Things the Ark didn't prepare them for
by RebelliousWriter
Summary: When the Ark sent the delinquents to the Earth they could have prepared them a bit better. Maybe given them warning that time travel, zombies and meeting relatives could all be possible. It might have changed so many things. Or maybe not. Now they have to try and survive the zombie apocalypse while falling in love and dealing with betrayals from within. (OOC & AU)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: If you can recognize them from the 100 or Z Nation, I do not own them.

Warnings: Will contain adult language, adult situations, character death and possible triggers due to violence and anything else that might happen in a post-apocalyptic world.

In regards to when this takes place in both shows, for the 100 it's when they open the doors and for Z Nation it's episode five, just after the tornado when they are driving away on the fire truck.

* * *

Letting their feet touch the Earth for the first time was everything and nothing like they dreamed it would be.

It was beautiful, it was bright, it was colorful, it was endless.

It was slightly overwhelming and scary.

Breathing the fresh air was such a new experience that quite a few of them could be seen just standing still breathing in and out with their eyes wide open.

They all took a few moments to silently appreciate that they had actually made it to Earth, a place no one on the Ark truly thought they would see in their lifetime.

Most of the younger kids ran around in circles, half chasing each other for fun, half just enjoying the feeling of the ground beneath their feet. None of the older kids seemed to want to stop them or calm them down, in fact most of them watched them with smiles on their faces, some looking almost jealous of their carefree nature.

Suddenly they could hear something not far from them and it sounded like it was coming closer. Everyone stopped and looked around, trying to find out what it was. They didn't have to look for long as seconds later figures could be seen running clumsily towards them.

Clarke Griffin wasn't sure who it was, but someone tried calling out to them, maybe they tried saying hello, maybe they asked a question. She would never know as one of the figures reached them and tore into their throat with their teeth. A gurgling scream was the last sound that teenager ever made.

There was no time to shout out a warning before dozens of the figures came pouring out of the trees towards them, attacking them without any hesitation.

Being the furthest away from the ship the younger ones fell first. There wasn't even time to think about saving them, that's how fast it happened.

The monsters didn't just bite into their victims, they tore into them, ripping the bodies apart with their teeth and hands. Blood was everywhere you looked.

Someone yelled out zombies and the name spread like wildfire as everyone ran in different directions trying to escape the carnage.

Another yelled for them to come back to the ship so they could lock themselves in but by then there wasn't that many from the Ark left.

Clarke was making her way back when she felt a tug on her jacket and then a sharp pain as teeth sunk into her skin over and over again.

Wells was a few feet ahead of her and heard her scream out. He turned and with a running jump shoved the two zombies off of her, falling to the ground with them. They wasted no time in taking chunks out of the fresher meat they had within reach of their mouths, forgetting all about Clarke.

"Wells!" Clarke cried out, shocked at what he did.

"Go! Get to the ship!"

Clarke could only stand there, frozen with shock as she watched her childhood friend get torn apart. He yelled at her again to go and seeing that he gave his life for hers, that there was no saving him, she did as he commanded. She turned her back to him and the last thing he said to her was something she would never forget.

"Clarke, I don't want to die with you hating me! I'm sorry, it wasn't me. It was your mom."

It wasn't something she understood fully right then, but later when she thought back on it, she would remember and realize what he meant.

She would also think back and remember that she slowly walked away from Wells, she didn't run. And not one of the so called zombies made a move in her direction.

* * *

Bellamy Blake had gotten on the ship to Earth so that he could protect his baby sister, it was his life's main goal. When he saw those monsters running towards them he instantly knew something was wrong and dragged his sister back to the ship, despite her protests and attempts to get away.

He pushed her up a set of stairs and told her to stay put. In her attempts to get away from him she had seen what was going on so she didn't complain at all, just went to the upper level and waited for him.

Bellamy stood at the ship doors trying to process what he was seeing as fast as he could. It was a massacre, there was no other word for it. Most of the kids were falling left and right, never to get up again. Others he saw fall and get up seconds later, only to attack someone themselves.

He called out, hoping to get as many as he could back in the ship. It was too late for most of them, but he prayed to save some. Precious few ran in and just as he was about to shut the doors he looked to the right and saw the blonde girl that hadn't wanted them to open the doors at first, she was just standing there looking at the ship but not getting in. Bellamy jumped down and grabbed her, mostly carrying her inside. The moment they passed it he pulled the lever to shut the doors.

The blonde was trying to say something, but it was drawn out by a call for help from a back corner. Bellamy rushed over to see the kid that ran in with him as he was bringing in the girl had been bitten and had turned into one of the monsters. One of the older boys was pushing him back, being careful not to let his teeth get near him.

Bellamy didn't hesitate in pulling out his gun and shooting it in the head, making him stop instantly. Everyone that was left, a pitiful few, crowded around him as the arm that was raised with the gun slowly fell back down.

Before anyone else could say anything, a girl spoke up from behind him. He turned to see that it was the girl he brought in.

"I hope you have another bullet. He wasn't the only one bitten." With her confession, she pulled up her shirt, letting them all see the bite marks on her side.

Bellamy was quick to point his gun back at her, but someone grabbed his arm, preventing him from doing anything.

"Wait, we can't go around killing humans for no reason. Why hasn't she changed? The other one was fine when he came in here and was fully changed ready to take a bite out of us seconds later. And the ones outside turned just as fast. It's been longer than that and she is still human, she looks like she's in pain but fine."

Not a single one of them had anything to counter that, so with his gun still in hand Bellamy just stood there and watched her for a few minutes along with everyone else.

Moments later it was his sister that spoke up. "It's been like five minutes and she hasn't changed. Maybe she won't?"

There was no answer to her question, no one knew. None of them had any idea what was going on, let alone what to do.

Maybe if they had known beforehand, maybe if someone had told them of what they might be facing, maybe the slaughter might not have happened. Maybe they would have known what to do about the girl that was bitten but not turning. Maybe they wouldn't be scared out of their minds. Maybe there would be more of them left.

But they didn't know and had no idea what to do next.

It was the girl, bitten and curled up against the door hugging herself that offered a solution.

"I think someone should go get on the radio, we need to talk to the Ark."


	2. Chapter 2

Clarke hugged herself tighter, trying to control her panic as best as she could, but it wasn't working very well. She was on the verge of a total emotional breakdown. She went over in her head again the facts she knew, thinking that maybe gathering her thoughts would help.

One, the Ark had sent one hundred of them down to the Earth to see if it was safe for them to live. Well, that one made sense since she knew that the Ark was dying, they didn't have much more air. What didn't make sense to her was that the adults just drugged them didn't even give them the choice to go to the Earth or not and it damaged how she saw adults. Adults who are supposed to help kids, guide them, protect them.

Two, Earth was not safe. It had zombies. _Zombies._ Which was just insane sounding and if she didn't see it with her own eyes, felt it on her own skin, she would have thought it was a nightmare.

Three, on the topic of Zombies, they tore into their victims and if enough of them was left, they turned into a zombie themselves. Everyone had except her. And that was what was causing her to freak out the most. She had been bitten three times and almost an hour later she still hadn't turned. Why didn't she?

She didn't remember much of what happened after she made the suggestion to contact the Ark. That was an hour ago and she knew one of the boys went up to see about the radio but something had happened to it and needed to be fixed. Apparently a few of the teenagers knew what to do and said it wouldn't take long.

Clarke briefly got lost in her thoughts again, but it wasn't long before she was shaken out of them by one of the others.

"Hey, you're Clarke Griffin right? Your mom is Councilwoman Griffin?"

Clarke didn't understand why he was asking, but that's who she was so she nodded in agreement.

"Cool. I'm Monty, Monty Green. We have the communications up and ready to go and we thought since you're the daughter to someone on the council, well that you should be the one to talk to them. You know since Wells is, um, gone."

On one hand Clarke didn't mind it, she had questions she wanted answers to along with everyone else. But to possibly see her mother so soon, knowing she was part of a group to send them down to what could have been their death if the air here was still bad? She didn't know what she would say to her if her mother came on. Does she forgive her? Can she forgive her? And how does she tell his dad that Wells wasn't with them anymore because he turned into a freaking zombie saving her?

"Sure, OK, I can do that." What could she say besides yes? As much as she didn't want to talk to the adults that sent them here, they did have questions that needed to be answered.

Monty helped her up and followed her to the upper level along with everyone else still on the lower level. When everyone was crowded around Clarke picked up the headset pointed out to her and said she was ready. Monty turned it on and looked at Clarke.

"Right, let's get some answers and figure out what the hell is going on."

She pushed the switch to talk like Monty showed her and started speaking.

"Ark, can you hear me? This is Clarke Griffin calling out to the Ark. Come in Ark."

It felt like forever as she kept repeating it as they all waited for someone to answer.

* * *

Private First Class Simon Cruller, or as he was being called during these zombie infested years, Citizen Z, was fooling around like any other day, just trying to keep his mind off of the fact that he was alone and had been for a very long time. He monitored what he could, trying to reach out to people, but the amount of people actually left alive to talk to him was going down every day.

His main focus at the NSA Northern Light listening station was Operation Bite-mark, he tried to guide the group that was working their way across the United States to bring Murphy to California in hopes that a cure could soon be found.

When he first heard about Murphy he felt sorta bad for the dude. He had been in prison at the start of the zombie apocalypse and was forced to take an experimental vaccine. Only instead of seeing if it worked, the doctor and military protecting her left him to his fate, even as they heard his screams as he was bitten into while still tied up. It had only been because Lieutenant Mark Hammond went back at the last minute that they even knew he had survived the bites. Who knows what would have happened to him if they didn't go back for him?

What began as just any other day, quickly became much more.

_"Ark, can you hear me? This is Clarke Griffin calling out to the Ark. Come in Ark."_

Citizen Z blinked and blinked again in confusion. Ark? Where had he heard that name before? He was instantly intrigued and quickly searched for information on the Ark, wanting some background information before he answered the call. What he found was something he had forgotten about but had been told about second hand shortly after it happened, now he skimmed all of the previously classified reports on it and couldn't help but wondering why he was hearing their transmission now when all reports stated they lost contact with them shortly after they went up.

Hearing the girl call out again, this time he answered.

"Hello Clarke Griffin, this is the Northern Light post, can I be of some help?" He heard a startled sound and some shuffling answer him, he smiled to himself in amusement. Had he scared someone?

_"Hello? I'm sorry, we are trying to reach someone else. Who are you?"_

"Yes I heard, you want to reach the Ark Station. I don't think that is possible, we have been without contact with them for a few years now. As for who I am, you can call me Citizen Z."

_"But it has to be possible! Wait, hang on, what do you mean a few years?"_

"Just what I said ma'am. We lost contact with them I think about four years ago or so, shortly after they went up. I'm very sorry. I'll help you out if I can though."

It seemed that his reply wasn't what was expected, for he could hear a number of voices all start speaking at once, each one getting louder in their frustration to be heard over one another. What he was hearing was mostly a jumbled mess but what he did understand confused the hell out of him.

Did they just say four years ago wasn't right because they had been in space for almost one hundred years and they had always been told no one was left alive on Earth?

What the fuck kind of joke was this?

This was the motherfucking zombie apocalypse and even if he was alone up here in the middle of the freezing nowhere, he still had important work to do. He didn't have time to be pranked by kids who thought they could fool him. He looked into where they were transmitting from and hacked into their files to see what they were up to. What he found shocked him more than when he first found out about the zombies.

His mind flew as he tried to make sense of what he read. It couldn't be possible, it just couldn't. But then again.. he was in the middle of Zombies Vs. Humans part one, which the humans so far were seriously getting their asses kicked by the way, so who was he to say that time travel wasn't also real?


	3. Chapter 3

Clarke heard his words, but the meaning behind them took a moment to grasp.

The others all questioned it as well, asking if they heard the same thing. Which had to be wrong.. right?

None of this was helping any at all, so she stood up and yelled out to get everyone's attention.

"HEY! Calm down! Asking each other isn't going to do anything, we all know the same thing here. Which is nothing. Now if we can stay calm and quiet maybe we should talk more to this Citizen Z guy."

They heard a throat clearing over the connection from the guy that had floored them with his news. _"That sounds like a good idea to me, I'm pretty confused myself. I hacked into the files you have from where you're transmitting from and the things I'm reading I don't understand."_

"How about we trade information? We'll answer what you want to know if you tell us what is going on?"

_"I can try Miss Griffin. Is what you're saying true? The Ark Station that you came from left Earth about one hundred years ago?"_

"Yes, but we are just the Ark now. One of our stations we lost to a major conflict and the other twelve stations joined together to make one, calling it just the Ark."

_"Wow. Well, that does add up with what I'm reading in your files, but a few things are still not unless I'm crazy. Ok, Miss Griffin and company let me give you a small history lesson. In 2010 here on Earth a virus started, we are unsure how but it caused the dead to become, um, undead. Zombies. It spread fast, there was no cure, there was nothing anyone could do. In 2011, it was settled that four hundred people from thirteen different Nations would leave Earth and go live in space while nuclear bombs got dropped all over the planet. It was the belief that the nukes would kill the virus. Following so far?"_

Clarke murmured a yes and a few others did as well, all of them unmoving while paying rapid attention.

_"Excellent. So four hundred went up into space, knowing it would be a very long time before the radiation levels would be safe enough for them to return. When they did come back home they all had the skills and knowledge to rebuild each nation, knowledge that they should have passed down. Unfortunately, the nukes never got detonated, for reasons unknown. All around the world we also set up ungrounded bunkers to try and save people. Sadly most of them are still sitting unused. In 2012, the virus had reached ninety percent of the world and it was estimated that roughly sixty percent of the population was gone. By 2013, there was only about twenty percent of us left. 2014 was the last calendar year for Earth, it was the year Earth fell. It was also the last time we spoke to anyone on the Ark. We had less than ten percent of humans left. Ten percent was the number scientists believed would be too low to ever get back to where we were even if a cure was found. Since then we count our years as AZ, After Zombies. The current year is 03 AZ, or if it helps, 2017."_

It just wasn't real, it couldn't be. He was playing a trick on them.

From next to her Monty addressed the guy who had to be lying. "Sir, I'm Monty Green. Are you saying that the current year is 2017? As in right this minute?"

_"Yes Sir, that is what I'm saying. What year was it for you when you left the Ark?"_

"This is going to sound totally insane but it was 2108 for us." Monty shakily replied.

_"Not so insane for me. It's as I thought. What do you guys know about time travel?"_

None of them could even think of a reply other than "huh?"

_"I'm pretty sure that's what happened. I can't tell you how, I was never good at any science or physics classes but all signs and proof point to time travel. Proof is in the files you have, the dates on them. The dates of your births, the dates that the ship you're on was last checked, the date it was last fueled. Now all of this could also be a very, very huge prank by whoever you are, but I'm willing to bet all of the bullets I have left that it's not. It's too crazy not to be real."_

"Fuck that. Time travel? There's no way!" Bellamy cursed behind Clarke, his tone very angry and disbelieving.

_"You don't have to believe me. I'm just saying that based on the facts between the information I gathered from you and the information I have, that's the only conclusion I can come up with that fits. Why have you come back now? How many are you?"_

The Ark didn't have many books, but the ones they did have Clarke had liked to read as often as she could. She tried to think back on what she had read about time travel. "So like a black hole? A wormhole? Either one just sounds perfect. We jumped time somehow and got landed with dead people that want to bite us and make us their undead best friends! Or bite us to devour us until there's nothing left!" She was shouting by the end, becoming hysterical.

Monty forced her back into her seat from her standing position and rubbed her back trying to soothe her. "I'm sorry about Clarke, I'm sure she didn't mean to yell at you. She's just freaking out after being bitten and hearing about time traveling on top of that, well I'm sure you understand. We came back because the Ark was dying, running out of air. Our trip was a trial run of sorts, to see if it was safe. They didn't give us a choice, they just picked us and forced us to come. When we landed we went outside, we didn't know about the zombies. No one on the Ark ever told us. One hundred of us came down, only thirteen of us are left."

* * *

Citizen Z thought nothing these kids said to him was going to shock him more than them coming from space, from the future. Then they mentioned that Clarke was bitten. They had been talking for much, much longer than it took for a person to turn. How was she alive? Did they find another Murphy, one with a natural cure inside her?

"Did you just say someone had been bitten? And hasn't turned?" He stood up so quickly that the chair shot out behind him across the room.

_"Yes. Clarke was bitten and hasn't turned. We waited for it, but it never happened. It was almost two hours ago by now. Give or take a bit."_

Citizen Z did a little dance, excited for what this could mean. He had to get in contact with the members of Operation Bite-mark and update them, get them all together somehow. His fingers flew over his keyboard as he tried to figure out where they could meet up. There! Operation Bite-mark would have to backtrack some depending on how far they had moved from their last known location but there was a place close to Clarke and her group that would be perfectly safe for them to meet. "Before now there has only been reports of this happening one other time and he was injected with an experimental vaccine that was in its final testing phase. No one has naturally survived, no one."

He felt bad for dropping that bit of information and only felt worse as he heard someone crying, Clarke most likely.

"Listen the other person that was bitten and lived is with a group on its way to a research center in California to work on a cure. Would you think about going with them to figure out a cure? They aren't that far from you if I can get in contact with them could I give them a location near you that you all could meet up at? The location is secure and has plenty of food and other supplies."

One of the males told them they all had to talk first and too fast for him to reply, the connection was dropped. He had nothing to do, but wait for their answer now.

* * *

Time travel? It seemed so unreal, not something that could have actually happened. What if it was real? The guy did sound honestly surprised and confused, maybe it really happened? Somehow, someway, they had actually come back in time. While it would have been interesting to know how, did it really matter? It wasn't like they had a reason to find out, they couldn't go back. Soon there wouldn't be anything or anyone to go back to.

Bellamy listened to what the guy offered before telling him they had to talk about it alone. The protectiveness he had first only felt towards his sister had now spread to Clarke and the rest of them. He felt as the oldest male that it was up to him to take care of them. Bellamy didn't know a damn thing about time travel but what he had seen in the few movies the Ark had, he had figured out that whatever caused them to come back would not happen again. The Ark would not be following them, it would take a miracle and this zombie filled Earth didn't seem to have those anymore. No, the remaining thirteen of them were on their own now, they had to take control of their own lives because no one was going to save them. They would have to save themselves.

In his darkest deepest thoughts, Bellamy was happy that no one else from the Ark would come. It meant that what he had done to follow his sister would never be known unless he told someone. His sister would never know he had become a killer.

He glanced at the others and took in their confused, scared, helpless looks. Lastly, his eyes landed on Clarke. Bellamy was smarter than he looked, he knew if Clarke went to go help with a cure it would mean that she was tested on day and night. Adding in the fact that she was somehow from the future, no doubt they would run more tests on her. For something she didn't even do. Did he want that to happen to her? Even not knowing her, no, he didn't.

"I know what we just heard is a lot to take in and something we need to talk about and make plans for. But the biggest issue is Clarke and this cure, "

Monty interrupted him with a glare, "I'm not just going to send her off to some strangers for her to be experimented on! She's one of us Blake! I don't care what you say, she's not going! We can't do that!"

Bellamy gave him an unimpressed look until the boy stopped his rant.

"If you would have let me finish you would know that I agree with you. We are the only people alive from the Ark, with this time travel bullshit there is no way they would be able to follow us. We are by ourselves now, but still together. We need to stay together and work together to keep all of us alive. Not all of us know each other but most of us at least know of the rest of us, that's something we can trust. We can't just go around trusting strangers, not here! Outside there are zombies to worry about, why split up and have to worry about other humans as well? No, I say we stick together!"

The look Clarke was giving him made him feel ten feet tall and more importantly, his sister was looking at him in happiness and with her old hero worshiping that she used to have. He knew then that he had made the right choice and would stick with it. These people were now his to protect. He would take care of them as best as he could until his last breath.

Everyone else was also smiling and nodding to his words and he let out a sigh of relief that they all agreed.

"We can't stay in here much longer without food, water and weapons. We need to get to the place Jaha told us about, get in those supplies." He cast a worried look at the ship doors and to what was on the other side of them. How would they get past the zombies?

As if she knew where his mind was, Clarke gave him a solution. "With all of the zombies out there and only one gun most of us won't make it." She paused and took a shaky breath. "But I can. After they.. after they bit me they ignored me. I'm sure I can get out of here and get to the place where the supplies are safely. All I would have to do is bring back enough weapons for the rest of you and then we can all go and be protected."

Part of him wanted to protest on her going along. Maybe it was the fact that she was a girl, maybe it was the fact that she had already been hurt. Whatever it was some of him wanted to shout no. The rest of him was actually thinking, and knew it to be a smart choice.

* * *

Clarke was scared and silently hitting herself in the head. Why did she suggest that? What the fuck was wrong with her?

It was too late to take it back, she had said it and while scared, she knew she would follow through with the plan. It was the right thing to do and they had just finished saying they didn't plan on turning her over to strangers. She felt like she owed them. Not enough to do anything too crazy, but enough to want to help them get to a more secure place with supplies.

She and Bellamy walked over to grab the map that was on the ship and he walked her to the door. At the door he stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm.

"I'm sorry you have to do this. I'm sorry you even got bit. I wish I could take your place."

Clarke offered him the best smile she could, hoping it didn't come out like the grimace she felt like it was. "It's ok Bellamy, I can do this. I'll see you soon."

He pushed the level for the doors down just a bit, enough for her to slide out and jump to the ground. "See you soon."

Clarke jumped down and heard the door slam shut behind her. Around her she could see a dozen or so zombies still hanging around but other than them looking up at the noise, they ignored her. So far so good.

The map she had was open and she was looking at it and then looking off in the distance. She did it a few more times before cursing and banging on the door.

"Bellamy we have a problem, they dropped us on the wrong fucking mountain. It's going to take a few hours to get there!"

She could hear the others discussing it saying she shouldn't go and before they could say anything she made up her mind. The distance didn't matter.

"I'm going anyway. It might be a half a day before you guys have any food or water so try to rest or something. Be back soon."

Without looking back, she left, intending on being as fast as she could in bring back weapons and however much food and water she could for them.


	4. Chapter 4

While the hours passed as she made her way to the supplies, Clarke let her mind wonder a bit over the zombie and time traveling issues. Both topics made her feel like she was in some kind of horror/science fiction book or movie. She had already pinched her arm to make sure it wasn't a nightmare, well alright she did it a few times but she was alone out here so she only looked silly to herself. When most people that did that, they did it because something so amazing was happening and they wanted to make sure it was real, Clarke was hoping the opposite. She had hoped this hell she was in wasn't real. Unfortunately, it was real and she desperately wanted out.

The problems with zombies was something she didn't have to worry about like the others. They would always have to be careful so they didn't get bit, while she could just walk right up to them and nothing happened. It made her want to know why what was so different about her? Not enough to want to subject herself to becoming a lab rat but it did bother her that she didn't know. Was it something that was wrong with her? Also, what would the zombie DNA do to her? Nothing? Something crazy like that comic book character that was bitten by a spider and made him turn into a superhero, was that something that could happen to her? She really hoped not, she looked terrible in tights and being a superhero sounded exhausting. Maybe if this place was safe for them to stay in she could make a medical lab if they didn't have one, then at least she could run some tests on herself to see if she could find anything.

That brought her mind to the other hell- time travel. Seriously, it all was just unreal. Clarke hoped to find some books on the theory of it , she had many questions about how it might have happened and why. Why did they come back in time to this? Were they being punished for something, for their ancestors leaving? She shook her head at those thoughts, knowing she just sounded insane now. None of them were being punished, it was just something that happened and they now had to live with it. If somehow she ever found out more information good, but if not, well it wouldn't be the end of the world would it be? Cause that had already happened. Thank you, zombies, and who or whatever made it happen.

She had been so lost in her head that she didn't notice she had finally reached Mount Weather. Now all she had to do was find the hidden door on this side. Couldn't they have left better directions other than a general spot? It took her almost a half an hour of standing and just starting, trying to see something out of place before she found it. Luckily they had at least provided them with the code written on the map to get into the door or they would have never been able to get in.

It took a few sharp tugs on the handles before the doors swung open but before she could head inside she was stopped when a body slammed into hers, knocking her to the ground. She let out a scream so loud it had the birds around them flying as fast as they could.

* * *

Bellamy was pacing back and forth angry that he had let Clarke go, angry that it was even further away, angry that-

"Bell, stop, what's going on with you?" He looked down at the small hand on his arm and followed the hand up to the face of his baby sister.

He lightly pushed away from her to run his fingers through his hair, pulling at the ends of it. "She's out there alone O! With zombies! Because we traveled back in time straight into them! They ate most of us, ate! This is crazy!"

Octavia let her brother rant for a moment, knowing he needed to let it out. She wondered why and how the Clarke girl got into her brother's head so fast. Not just her but the rest of them too. She had watched her brother walk around to all of them, making sure they were ok and told them to try and rest. From seeing her only care for her to caring for these strangers should have made her feel jealous, instead, it made her feel proud.

"Bell pacing like this is only going to get you worked up more. You heard her, it will be hours before she gets back and we don't have any water. Why don't we just go sit down for now?" While she wanted to try and offer some support on the other things bothering him, Octavia had no clue what to say about zombies or time travel. She had heard the others talk about what they had seen or read about them but having been stuck living under the floor most of her life Octavia didn't have hardly any of those experiences. The only stories she knew were the ones Bellamy had told or read to her and zombies wasn't one he would have told her, worried that it would scare her.

Suddenly a flash of brilliance came to her! It was perfect, they could maybe find out more about the other person that was bitten and it would keep Bellamy's mind busy so he didn't pace a hole in the floor!

"Oh! How about instead we see if we can talk to that guy again, find out what he knows about the other person that got bitten? We need to know if anything else might happen to Clarke. She didn't turn, but what about any other symptoms?"

Bellamy was surprised at the suggestion, then more surprised he hadn't thought of it before now. With a smile in thanks to his sister, he went off to do just that, hoping he didn't get any more bad news.

Monty stopped him on his way, asking what he was going to do. Bellamy answered him and spoke just loud enough that the others heard as well, and one by one they got up and moved to get comfortable around the radio.

Bellamy blinked at them, wondering what just happened. One of the girls saw and gave him a grin. "It's as you and Monty said, she's one of us now, we have to stick together. You can't keep us in the dark about anything, we deserve to know too."

* * *

Citizen Z was goofing off just waiting for the Ark, no the time travelers? No, the.., shit he had to come up with a name for them. Them, he was waiting back from them on what they wanted to do. He had just won another game of thumb war against himself when the radio squeaked at him.

_"Uh hello? Citizen Z? This is Bellamy Blake a friend of Clarke's. Are you there?"_

Hmm. He didn't know if it was god or bad that it wasn't Clarke that was speaking to him. Did he come on too strong or fast about meeting the other group? Did he scare her?

"Hello Bellamy, this is Citizen Z. What can I do for you?"

_"We wondered if you could give us some more information on the other person that was bitten? How is he doing? We know the bite didn't make him turn but did it do anything else to him? Is there anything we need to know or do for Clarke?"_

Hmm. What to do? He was so glad he had switched them to a private channel during their first conversation, while there might not be much of a public left, he knew that this was not stuff that should be public knowledge.

On one hand Operation Bite-mark and it's secrets should stay with them. However, what would it really hurt to tell them a few things? Nothing too important, just the smaller basics.

"I haven't seen the man in person but I can tell you a few things. His health was fine at first, then it quickly worsened. He got weaker, had a fever, aches in his bones and it hurt him to walk. That lasted a few months before his strength came back plus some. That was shortly after he was bitten. Now on the outside, he looks terrible like he is very sick. The reports though, they say he claims to feel great. No tests have been run on him yet so no one is clear on what is going on inside his body. I wish I could tell you more."

_"Thank you for what you could tell us, at least we know what we have to look forward to with Clarke."_

"Not necessarily. He was injected with an experimental vaccine, Clarke wasn't. Something from the vaccine could have caused his issues, we have no way of knowing. This is why I suggested Clarke going with them to California. Has she agreed to go?"

The pause before anyone answered him seemed to last forever.

_"Sorry, but no she has not. None of us like the idea of her just going off with strangers for her to be experimented on in ways we would have no way of protecting her from."_

Citizen Z wanted to calm their fears and tell them that nothing like that would happen, but he didn't like to lie. It was very likely that once in California no one would ever see Murphy again except the doctors and scientists working on the cure. So it was very understandable that they came to the same or near the same conclusion and didn't want that to happen to someone they knew. His issue now was did he tell someone about the girl and have someone pick her up? Or did he just leave them alone? Citizen Z made a split-second decision that would, later on, save them all.

"I understand her choice. I do want you guys to know that I will still be here and can help with anything I can. Do you have a plan for what you'll do?"

_"Thanks, man. Yeah, I think we have one. When we leave someone will let you know and as soon as we can get another radio working we'll let you know where we are."_

"Good, I'd like to keep talking to you guys. I'll spend as much time as I can researching time travel, see what I can find. I don't promise to understand all of what I find, but I'll try."

_"That would be awesome, thanks again. See you later man."_

As the radio call ended Citizen Z sat back with a smile, happy with how he handled that. Maybe it wasn't for the best interest of the humans but letting Clarke go felt like the right choice. Now to pop in a new record and read up on time travel while he waited for Addy or Garnett to get in contact with him again.

* * *

A/N: Clarke and 10k will be the main pairing, any other pairings you'd like to see? Or ones you don't want to see?

So thirteen from the Ark's 100 have survived, who do you think they are? You already know of a few, any guesses on the others? Who do you hope didn't survive?


	5. Chapter 5

Clarke laid out on the ground breathing hard, trying to slow down the racing heart that felt like it was trying to beat out of her chest. The very last thing she expected when she opened the door was for a zombie to come speeding out and crash into her. When the zombie's face went right up to hers, she could actually feel it inhaling her scent and for a second she thought she was going to get bitten again. It didn't happen though, the zombie sniffed her a few more times and then just got off of her, running off.

She still stayed on the ground for moments after it left, shaking and crying. But those few moments were all she gave herself, she had to get up and get moving, back to the people counting on her. On shaky legs, she stood, slowly and carefully making her way inside, thankful, yet confused, to see lights on above her head. The hallway she was in was huge and felt like it went on forever, she felt tiny standing in it. Glancing around she was pleased to see a map on either side of the door. Sparing a moment to look at it, she found that she had just not only found supplies for them but a place they could live. It was more than big enough for all of them and some. Whoever built this, built it with hundreds of people in mind. They had a medical area, two kitchens, a few large bunking areas, about a dozen private sleeping quarters, and countless other sections that she just skimmed over for now. They could spend more time looking around when they all came back together, first she had to go get them. With that goal in mind, she noted where the armory was and where the closest kitchen to it was.

Opening the door to the armory was like staring at a very confusing puzzle. While Clarke did know what a gun looked like, she didn't have any experience with them. Due to that inexperience this room, with its various different types and sizes, intimidated her. Slowly she walked around trying to see if she could figure out what would be easiest not only for the others to use but for her to carry. Grabbing a bag from a pile near the door, she tossed in a few smaller handguns from the table closest to the door and from the wall above that, took down a few larger ones. She planned on finishing up with a few of the guns with straps that she could carry on her back when a few bins in the back of the room caught her eye. One was filled with crowbars, another had axes with long handles. Figuring those would be easy to use for the ones that didn't feel confident with a gun she grabbed as many as she could fit in her bag. For a group of teens that, as far as she knew, had never used a weapon of any kind, she had to just manage with what she could carry and hope it was enough to get them all back in one piece.

After she grabbed four of the guns with straps she rushed to the kitchen, wanting to make sure the food supplies they were promised was still there. Entering the kitchen she could only stop and stare. This room had more food and water than she had ever seen. Rows and rows of shelves that touched the ceilings stood before her, all filled with food. One wall had nothing but huge clear drums of what seemed to be water, along with cases of water stacked next to them. If this was just one kitchen, depending on how much was still good, they wouldn't starve while learning to hunt and grow their own food.

Clarke let out a squeal that she would deny ever making as she ran to the cases of water, ripping into one and chugging a bottle down. It was the best water she had ever had and she slowly drank the next one, savoring the taste as she browsed the shelves of food, trying to figure out what might have gone bad and what would be the best food to carry and feed the people waiting for her. She had grabbed two more bags from the armory and had planned on wearing one on her back, one on her front while she carried the last one. It would really be a difficult trip back with all of it, but Clarke felt she had no other choice, they needed it all. Looking at all of the cans and bags of food left her feeling very unsure of what to get, most of the stuff she hadn't even had before! After walking up and down each row and examining everything she could see without a step stool or a chair, Clarke thought her best bet would just be some of the dried fruit and meats. Neither choice would be very heavy and she could carry quite a bit in one bag, leaving the last bag empty for water bottles.

Clarke finished gathering and packing the bags up with as much speed as she could, desperate to get back to her group. Not only did she know they had no supplies or way of protecting themselves, but she was also starting to get scared of being alone. With her mind focused on her goal, of being back with her group, she wasted no time in leaving and starting the hike back to them.

* * *

Citizen Z was jamming out to some music, giving his furry companion a free air guitar solo show when one of the voices he had been waiting to hear from was heard. It was Garnett and his group, letting them know that a tornado did touch down where they had been and while they got banged up some, they were all alive still. When Garnett went on to tell him that they needed to take some time to get some good rest, food, and stock up supplies for the rest of their trip, it was no surprise to anyone when Murphy started to complain. As usual, his objections got turned down or flat out ignored by the others. Citizen Z looked around their area and told them about a building with a pond behind it that was 20 miles west of them that he thought would be a good place to stay, that it was on a street with other homes and business that might give them some supplies was a huge help.

After making sure to remind them to keep in touch and let him know when they left the area, Citizen Z said his goodbyes and went back to rocking out with his dog, happy knowing everyone in that group was alive.

* * *

There were only a few miles left between her and the others, but as she stood there unable to take another step forward, she could see that the distance wasn't the only thing in her way. Standing just a few yards from her were some of the kids she had seen when they landed before the doors opened. Her heart broke at seeing what they had become and blinding anger took over. Anger at the Ark for sending them here, anger towards whatever caused the zombie virus in the first place and anger that most of them looked like they had just entered their teens, far too young for this. Lastly, she was angry at herself for not doing more to stop them from opening the doors so fast. If they hadn't would the same thing still have happened?

She didn't think, she just dropped everything at her feet, pulling one of the larger guns into her hands and pointing it their direction. Maybe she didn't know much about guns but there had been posters in the armory that she had briefly looked over. In her fury, she barely remembered to flick the safety off before squeezing the trigger.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Again and again until it clicked at her, making her glare at the gun like it had let her down for being empty. Luck was on her side since she wasn't really aiming, she ended up nailing a couple in the head, making sure they would never get up again.

Giving a roar that sounded animalistic at the fact that she missed some, she dropped the gun and grabbed one of the sharp axes, striding right up to them and without hesitation heaved it into the head of the closest one. The blood, brain and who knows what else that poured out when she yanked the ax out didn't even slow her down, nor did she notice it getting on her face, clothes and in her hair. She just kept going, making sure none of them would ever bite another human again.

Once there was none left she felt the anger slip away and waited for the horror and shame to come at what she did. When it never came she fell to her knees and cried at the loss of life, of what could have been for them had they lived and at who she had become. A killer. A murderer.

Her brain wanted to shut down at the thought of herself being a murderer and it caused her tears to slow down. That wasn't who she was. Was that now how she viewed herself? Would she introduce herself from now on as 'Clarke the murderer'? What about the others? If, _no, when_, when they had to kill zombies would she see them as murderers? No, she wouldn't, of course not. She would see them as surviving. She would be happy that they took the zombies out instead of the other way around, happy that it was another one, ten, hundred fewer zombies out there.

Still on her knees, covered in zombie gunk, sweat, and tears, she promised herself that she would do whatever it took to protect the rest of them, the ones that had survived, the ones still living. Never again did she want to see someone she knew turn into one of these things. Not if she could help it.

* * *

Bellamy had heard the bangs and knew it meant someone close was firing a gun. He believed it was Clarke but knowing they were not the only humans on Earth made him weary. One of the earliest things he had learned thanks to the Ark and it's people was that you had to look after you and yours because if not, no one else would. Not only that but there was always some that weren't content with the meager belongings and rations they had and would steal, lie or just take from those they thought weaker than them. If that was how it was on the Ark with their extremely limited food, water, medicine and other supplies, Bellamy knew people down here on Earth would be even worse thanks to the zombies roaming around and the lack of order. While he held the council accountable for what happened to his family and the one hundred kids they sent down here, he knew that they did for the most part work to make things as best as they could with what they had. They kept things and people in line and the Ark ran relatively smoothly. Remembering the Ark and its ways made him change his mind on what fell under his, it used to be just Octavia. Now it would be all of them that fell under him and his. He almost felt sorry for anyone that tried to do them harm. Normally Bellamy was mild mannered but he was honest enough with himself that he knew he had a ruthlessness inside of him that he would use when needed.

Desperate to look out he almost cracked the door open to see if he could see anything but stopped himself, if someone other than Clarke was nearby he didn't want to be found so defenseless. Instead, he turned and walked around to check up on everyone, happy to see that everyone but Monty was sleeping peacefully.

Bellamy paced and paced some more, quite bored of just sitting and hiding, waiting for someone else to save him. His first thoughts of Clarke had been that she would be a useless spoiled princess, wanting to be waited on and doing nothing to help. That changed when she asked if he had another bullet and pointed out that she was bitten as well. Then she offered to go alone out into the woods full of zombies and other unknown horrors to get them supplies and he knew he had pegged her wrong. She may have looked like a princess but was far from one that expected things handed to her. He respected her willingness to go even as he could see the fear in her eyes. The zombies had scared her, he also knew she had questions about what happened to send them back in time, why she didn't turn and other questions, instead it seemed she just pushed them aside to do what was needed. That type of person was one he could relate to and one he was glad to see on their side.

A girl calling his name had him looking around for his sister, thinking it was her. But no, she was still sleeping. His name was called again, this time, followed by a knock that came from the outside, letting him know who it was. Clarke had made it back! His victory yell woke the others and had them rushing to get up.

Monty was just steps behind him as he ran to the door and opened it so Monty could pull her in. Bellamy expected excited cheers or maybe some of the girls doing the hugging and jumping thing he knew they sometimes did for reasons he would never understand.

Instead, he heard loud gasps and crying from a few of the girls. His sister flew across to Clarke and gathered her in a hug as his brain finally caught up with his eyes. He took notice of the bags and guns hanging off of her but he just gave them a brief passing glance. It was the blood dripping from the tool still clutched tightly in her hand and the gore on her clothes that had him worried.

* * *

Monty stepped closer to her and slowly as if she was a wounded animal, took the bags from her and helped her sit down once she was unloaded of all her physical burdens. Bellamy could only watch, frozen by the thoughts running through him as his mind tossed around theories of what could have happened.

After reassuring them that she was unharmed she told them of her journey, leaving nothing out. She purged herself of her fears and thoughts as she told them of her small breakdown after she killed the zombies that had once been kids from the Ark.

Clarke wasn't sure what she expected when she finished her story but total support wasn't it. Not one person spoke up and said she did anything wrong. In fact, just about all of the older teenagers made comments about them hoping to have the strength to do the same if the situation ever called for it.

One of the guys offered his shirt to Clarke to wear, saying he would be just fine wearing his jacket zipped up for now. Seeing that, Octavia and another girl took one of the bottles of water being passed around and helped Clarke move away from everyone else to get cleaned up.

It didn't take long for the food and water to be passed around, and as they ate, they talked about their plans. One of the guys, Miller, voiced his fear of getting caught in the dark and knowing that time was against them, they all rushed to get ready.

Monty was sad to leave behind a way to communicate with others until Clarke told him that their new home was built for a small community, it had electricity and would most likely have a computer or radio room.

Bellamy and Miller sorted the weapons and passed them around, hoping it would be enough to get them to where they needed to go. Before today Bellamy was the only one of them that had seen a gun in person before, making them grateful for the other weapons. Just before opening the door to leave Bellamy gave a small lesson on how to aim, shoot and how to work the safety, reminded them to keep the girls in the middle and to keep an eye on their surroundings.

There was no longer a reason to stay but Clarke could almost see the fear coming off of them in waves, she didn't blame them one bit. Who would want to go out there? They had no choice, they needed to get to a better shelter.

Full of fear but determination they stepped out, eyes looking around for dangers. Seeing none at the moment let them start their trip, each praying they would make it to their destination alive.


	6. Chapter 6

If it's one thing I've learned in life, it's that time can be a very fickle thing. Speeding and slowing down without warning, sometimes when you least wanted it to.

Like how quickly the time has passed since we got here. It's been two months and sometimes I feel like it was just yesterday.

Or how time seemed to freeze and then go in slow motion on our way here as we tried to protect everyone from a small group of zombies that had come out of nowhere. We lost two more of our own before killing them all, bringing our numbers down to just eleven.

It was also true what they said about time healing all wounds. The bite wounds I got had looked horrible after cleaning them up, they didn't just bite me but had also torn into my skin, leaving behind mouth size chunks missing from my left side. Now they looked much better as they healed, soon I bet there would only be scars. And scars I could live with, we all had them after all, inside and out.

Another thing I was spending time on was waiting to get sick. Bellamy told me what had happened to the infected man so we all figured it would happen to me as well. Only none of it happened. I did feel my muscles ache but knew that had more to do with training and working instead of being infected. As the weeks went by I actually started to feel stronger, better, healthier even. I guess I was the luckier one and skipped the sick stage.

When we got to Earth it had been late summer, now it was fall and the weather outside showed it. At first, it confused us at how chilly it got and how fast but thanks to Citizen Z and his never ending fountain of information that he was more than willing to share with us, we learned a lot and kept learning more each day. Monty had been over the moon when he saw that not only did our new home have a communications center, it also had a computer lab set up with individual computer stations that we took major advantage of. Citizen Z helped us set them up and once we got it figured out he sent us videos, electric books, help guides and anything else he could think of to help us. We found out how seasons changed here, how to operate the generators, how to hunt, fish, save and store the meat, and to the joy of everyone, he helped us figure out what food was bad and what should be eaten first. Citizen Z became a favorite to everyone as he was almost always around and showed so much patience as we figured things out.

Life here at Mount Weather wasn't just talking to Citizen Z and reading on the computers, there was always work to be done. And if there wasn't work, there was training. Of course, as teenagers, not all of us wanted to do what was told of them by other teenagers which caused a few arguments here and there, all that got solved by me calmly pointing out the obvious.

No one was going to hand us food. No one was going to wash our clothes for us. No one was going to make sure the generators stayed running for us. No one but ourselves. If we wanted food, we had to hunt for it, gather it, store it, save it. All by ourselves. It wasn't going to just appear in the cafeteria at a certain time, handed to you by some adult that prepared it. That was a big reality slap to the face to some, finally understanding that they were alone. Knowing they were on their own and seeing the proof were two different things.

I had worried about leadership and who it would be, a few years ago when I asked my mom about the council on the Ark, she told me that there should always be someone in charge, not to control people but to lead them, and sometimes the person in charge also had a group of people to help him.

I had nothing to worry about though as most of us looked to Bellamy, something he noticed and used to keep things going. In addition to him, people also looked to me for answers or help, often seeking me out to ask questions or for praise when they did something right.

Being looked up to wasn't easy, I felt like I was always in the spotlight, which Bellamy agreed with when I brought it up to him. We talked it over and felt that since we both wanted the same thing, everyone safe and taken care of, that we could work together easily. That isn't to say we didn't fight, we disagreed many times on how to do things or who would do them. Bellamy wanted the girls doing what he deemed safe while the guys took care of hunting and protecting. He was even against us girls learning how to use any of the weapons, stating that they could protect us. That caused our first and biggest fight to date. I was offended as were the other girls and I let him know it. I wasn't going to sit behind all day at home, cooking and cleaning while we waiting on the big strong menfolk. No way, not gonna happen. He didn't want to back down but against every single one of us girls saying the same thing he had to admit he was wrong and agreed to let us train as well. He wouldn't let any of us out to hunt until we could use a gun to his standards, not even the guys.

He was just as headstrong as I was and it did cause us to bump heads a few more times after that, something everyone took notice of since our fights tended to get loud. It was a running joke that our fights would one day lead to us kissing, something that made us laugh when we heard it whispered around us. Neither of us had any interest in the other sexually, we could (and did when I brought it up to see what he thought) admit we thought the other was very attractive, however, we just didn't feel a spark, no kind of connection other than our shared leadership and friendship which grew deeper as the weeks flew by.

* * *

While the Ark survivors had spent the last two months training, filling their bodies up with food, having clean clothes, learning and doing, even more, training, the same could not be said for Murphy and the members of his group.

After the tornado they had meant to stop for a week, possibly two, so they could catch up on sleep and grab supplies for the rest of the trip. Of course, as planned things often go, it didn't happen that way.

Murphy had started acting strange back at Warren's house when he shaved his head and acted nutter then his usual annoying self. Then there was that business in the basement with the zombie that he wouldn't kill and how he acted afterward. His behavior didn't get better while they rested, it got worse each day that passed. On top of that, his health was rapidly going down hill and no one knew what to do. Weeks passed as they hoped he would get better so they could get back on the road again. Seeing that the medicine they had picked up for him still wasn't helping at all, Garnett made the decision to call Citizen Z and see what he suggested to do.

"Calling Citizen Z, this is Delta X-ray Delta, come in Citizen Z."

It didn't take long at all for him to answer Garnett.

"_Hello Delta X-ray Delta, how is everyone doing? Are you ready to continue your mission with the package?"_

"Actually no, there's a problem with the package. Do you know where we could go for better medical supplies and maybe a doctor?"

"_What do you mean there's a problem with the package?"_

"He's been sick and nothing is helping him, he's getting worse by the day. He's pretty bad."

"_Hang on, give me a moment."_

They looked at each other in confusion but did as he said, wondering what he was doing. Thankfully for their nerves, they didn't have long of a wait.

"_About two miles from you there is a farm, the couple that lived there used to talk to me until they ran out of food and refused to leave. They opted out instead."_

Murphy in his own way had to butt in. "So they killed themselves, whoop-de-do, what does that have to do with us? Could you get to the point already?"

Citizen Z continued as if he didn't even hear him._ "I doubt they have much as far as supplies go, but they do have a working satellite and video connection. If you make your way there I think I can get in touch with a doctor I know that is closer to you than California. We can have her look at him and talk to him, see if she'll take a look at him in person or if he's ok to travel the rest of the way." _

Garnett traded looks with Warren, both of them picked up on something that Citizen Z wasn't saying. "What aren't you telling us?"

A dry chuckle answered them. _"A few things my friends, a few things. It's a small group but none of them are bad, I have all of their information on file. I have to talk to them before telling you any more of their details. I am sure she will look at him. Can you get to the farm?"_

After getting the location, they agreed they could get to it and said they would be there in an hour after they gathered up all of their supplies and packed up.

* * *

Citizen Z quickly called out to Monty, who he knew spent most of his time in the communications center, and asked if Clarke and Bellamy were close by, as he needed to talk to them, now if possible. Luck was on his side and they had just finished a meeting of their own and walked in a few moments later. Citizen Z explained what was going on and waited as they talked it over, he grew anxious as it looked like while Clarke was fine with it, Bellamy on the other hand, didn't want to let in strangers, thinking it might be dangerous to them. Bellamy almost had it his way but after hearing that Clarke would like to talk to someone else that was bitten finally agreed to talk to them and go from there.

Happy that he had at least set up a meeting, Citizen Z got off after letting him know he would set up a video call in shortly less than an hour, which Clarke said they would be ready for.

* * *

10k was restless as he waited with the others at the farm. Things have been tense all around, he would have liked to think it was due to Murphy being weird but it wasn't, at least not for him. In his case it was due to the thing with Cassandra when the tornado hit, it confused him and he was still trying to figure it out. Right before the tornado hit he had tried being nice to her by covering her back up when her blanket fell. That backfired as he almost got knifed for his efforts when he really didn't even mean anything by it. But in the car, that was different, right? It certainly felt different.

But all thoughts of Cassandra left his mind as the screen in front of them flickered on, showing them the group that would hopefully be able to help Murphy. It was in the middle of those faces that 10k saw an angel, a beautiful stunning angel. One with a welcoming smile and a halo of golden locks.


	7. Chapter 7

10k watched as she smiled at them while looking them all over. Was it all in his head or when she stopped at him did her smile get a tad bit brighter? Just the thought of it made him sit up straighter as he gave her a small smile in return. While doing so he felt someone's eyes on him, turning around he saw Cassandra behind him not looking happy at all. She was glaring at him, he had no idea what he had done this time to upset her. Girls were so difficult to understand!

Citizen Z introduced the two groups to each other, giving him the chance to learn that the girl was Clarke Griffin and she was their group's doctor! Murphy didn't like that at all, he started complaining that she was too young to know anything, even after hearing that her mother was a doctor and Clarke had been learning from her for years. Clarke took everything he said with a smile on her face, but her eyes betrayed her. 10K could see that she was very offended by his words, insulted that he would think she wasn't good enough. She didn't say a word, just sat listened to Murphy's ranting with a tight smile.

10K also watched Bellamy, the guy sitting next to Clarke, as he scanned all of them, knowing right away what he was doing. He was studying them, reading them. What was he getting from them? What did he see in each of them? Bellamy didn't let any signs show on his face about what he was thinking, not until he got to Murphy. Whatever it was that Bellamy found, he didn't like. His distrust of Murphy was plain to see, as was the anger that was building the longer Murphy ranted about Clarke. All of that stopped when Clarke put her hand on Bellamy's arm. A gesture that was fast to calm him down.

Finally, Warren got Murphy to shut up with a well-placed elbow to the gut and tried to look apologetic at the screen, try as she might, it mostly came across as a grimace. "I'm sorry about him, pay him no mind. I don't. Citizen Z told us you could maybe help him? It is very important that we get him to California alive and we have no idea what's wrong with him."

* * *

Clarke didn't know what she expected but seeing how terrible he looked wasn't it. Was the zombie bites affecting him in a different way than her? Could they be causing him to look that bad? Either way, she knew she had to help him. Did she also want to see if she could get some samples of his blood? Sure but that honestly wasn't her first concern.

Then she almost regretted wanting to help him the moment he opened his mouth. All the did was bitch and complain! What the hell was his problem? Clarke was more than happy when someone finally shut him up.

"I know how important it is and I can see how sick he looks," Of course when she started speaking she was interrupted. Did this group have no manners?

"_What do you mean you know how important it is? What do you know?" _

Clarke took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She had talked to Bellamy about this, they had hoped to have this conversation in person unless it came up, well she just wouldn't give them all the details just yet. "No longer is he the only person to survive a zombie attack. One of us was bitten and didn't turn. By chance or luck, Citizen Z heard us on our old radio and explained to us that there was a man in the same situation that was on his way to California."

"_If that's true then that person needs to come with us to California to help make a cure."_ The woman called Warren sounded very suspicious, not that she blamed her.

"I'm sorry but that won't be happening. The person is staying here with us, you already have someone that can help." Clarke wasn't going to mention that she was working on one herself, not a cure since she was sure they couldn't cure the ones already infected, but a vaccine. If they got closer to the group and trusted them, maybe she would let them know, but not right now.

Warren looked like she wanted to make another comment, she seemed to take offensive that she was being told no, that the person wouldn't be going with them. Clarke spoke before she could, let's see how she liked being cut off.

"Look that isn't the issue, or any of your business, to be honest. Citizen Z asked us to help you, we don't have to. We can provide you with a safe place to sleep, food to eat, some to take with you when you leave, showers, clean clothes and health care. That is it though. You will be coming into our home so if you are thinking of coming here to take one of us without our permission then you should rethink about coming. We will treat that as a threat and take appropriate actions."

"_Clarke, Warren, ladies. Let's calm down now. Warren, they do have a person that was bitten and they will be staying where they are. Your mission is to bring Murphy to the lab in California, not anyone else. Clarke has agreed to see Murphy and heal him as best as she can. Isn't that what you wanted?"_

Through the screen, Warren could be seen struggling with something. "Yes. How do you know we can trust them? All I see are kids, who are they? Where are the adults?"

Citizen Z looked at Bellamy and he shook his head, giving him the sign that he didn't want them to know about the Ark right now. Bellamy had made his intentions clear on the subject, it would be up to him and Clarke to tell others if they wanted, not Citizen Z. Instead, Citizen Z would give another story that they had come up with._"I'll explain all of that shortly. After I do, if you still wish to bring Murphy to Clarke I will give you directions. Clarke, Bellamy, do you have anything else to add?"_

Clarke let Bellamy take this one, she was done with the sneers on Murphy's face and she knew if she opened her mouth again it would be to tell him off.

"As Clarke said, this is our home you'll be coming to. We have a few rules. One- None of you are allowed to bring weapons into the clinic, you can, however, leave them right outside the door. Two- If you are here longer than a few days we would expect you to help us hunt for food, as well as giving us a hand with the day to day upkeep. You'll be eating our food, using our generators for hot showers and we think it's only fair. And lastly, but most importantly, you respect us and we will respect you."

Clarke was proud of how confidently Bellamy spoke, right then he looked like the leader he was. Strong, self-assured, protective of his group. She was happy to be by his side.

The other group, for the most part, didn't seem to like that they would have rules, all but the two that had caught her eye while she briefly assessed them, they seemed fine with them. The oldest and youngest males looked to Clarke like they wouldn't cause them any trouble. It was the rest of them that had Clarke uneasy. There was a fierce warning in her gut telling her this was going to cost them, that this would be a mistake. She hoped her gut was wrong.

Murphy was someone to watch very carefully if it wasn't necessary to help him and get samples of his blood, Clarke knew that he was someone she would never want to be around. Not only was he rude but he looked at them, even the people in his own group like they were his puppets to do as he pleased. No, Clarke didn't like him at all and she could tell that Bellamy didn't want him to come at all.

The youngest man had caught her eye for more than one reason. Was he attractive? Yes. It wasn't that though that made him stand out. It was the gentleness in his eyes. He had no doubt killed already and she could see he had the same tactical mind that she had seen in Bellamy. He studied all of them like she knew her co-leader was doing, finding strengths, weakness, any kind of tell that he could push to break if needed. This man, he had something Bellamy didn't. He had been out there living second to second among the zombies, not knowing where his next meal would be or if he would _be_ the next meal. However in spite of that he still had a softness to him, like the evils of this world had only briefly touched him before moving on. All together it made him a very dangerous person. Dangerous, but safe, as long as you didn't go against him in any way.

While the youngest male had a softer edge to him that she liked, she appreciated the older man for the opposite. His eyes held laughter, he had a face that seemed to smile and laugh often but behind that was a guarded, slightly darker, vigilance that should have scared Clarke. Instead, it made her think of her father, of the grim and focused look on his face as he tried to do the right thing even knowing he would most likely die for it. This man had lived a hard life, doing what he had to do long before the zombie invasion. She hoped she got a chance to sit and talk with him, he would be full of useful information and advice.

* * *

10k's mind was going a million miles an hour with all the new information he had just heard and seen. What was said wasn't as interesting as what wasn't said. He had caught a few things he was sure the others didn't. Like how they had all looked at Clarke when their bitten person was mentioned. Not because she was talking no, they looked at her with pity and sadness. He would bet everything he owned that she was the one, she was infected. He wondered how recent it was as she wasn't showing any signs, she looked incredibly healthy. Unlike Murphy who was starting to look like a zombie himself!

10k had also seen the signal during the topic of adults, again they were hiding something. Citizen Z knew about it and had given them a lame story of all the adults dying or turning while hunting for food and supplies. It would have been a believable story if he hadn't been watching so closely. They were lying, he just wasn't sure why yet. He didn't feel it was anything dangerous to him, so he just kept it to himself and would see if he could figure things out when they got there. The only bits he felt as true where the ones about Clarke being capable of looking Murphy over despite her young age because Citizen Z had been stressing since the start how important it was to get Murphy to California so if they backtracked it wouldn't be for a laugh.

He knew he was going to agree with going, and with their rules. Doc was also looking ready to go. It was the rest of them that had some doubts. Which of course had them all fighting over it before, in the end, Garnett settled it by saying it would be the best thing for Murphy, they would just have to keep their eyes open and be on the lookout for anything suspicious.

Having their meager supplies already packed up meant they could just get on the road, heading back to Virginia, towards what hopefully was a safe zone. Honestly, 10k could deal with it being less safe if they had enough food for them and the hot shower they mentioned.

Different types of hot food, clean clothes and a long hot shower flashed through his mind as they drove, helping fight off the annoyance of having to sit next to Murphy. Only about 800 miles to go. That didn't seem too bad.

* * *

10k was taking back his statement 200 miles later as his control not to push Murphy out while speeding down the highway was slipping.

Only 600 miles to go. Food. Shower. Sleeping away from Murphy and his nasty drool. If he was lucky, a cigarette or twenty.

He could do this.

* * *

Back at Mount Weather Clarke was sitting around having dinner with the others while they tossed around ideas about their tracking bracelets and what to do with them. It was almost a split vote on to just take them off or to leave them on for now and try to find out how they worked. If they did, the theory was that they would be able to use the tracking bugs themselves in case anyone ever got lost. Clarke herself could see them staying on as a good thing, it would be nice in case it was needed, this place was huge and easy to get lost in. For now, they would wait until they could get more information out of the bracelets, then figure out what to do.

They finished dinner and those not on that nights cleaning duty went to make sure one of the large bunking rooms was cleaned and filled with blankets, pillows, and towels. In case any of them wanted their own room they also got a few private rooms ready, they didn't have many of those empty so they would have to figure that out among each other.

Now they just had to sit back and wait until sometime tomorrow for them to arrive if all went well on the road.


	8. Chapter 8

They drove non-stop, only taking breaks when they absolutely needed to. Just as the sun was rising they reached the place where they had been told to leave their vehicles, as they had to walk the rest of the way. 10K and the others did as was told, parked, grabbed their belongings and started making their way to the meeting point. A short walk later and the promised door and person waiting on them were in sight.

Garnett, who they had agreed would be their main spokesperson gave a slight wave in greeting. "Hi, thanks for meeting us."

Their guide gave a small nod in return and when they had all caught up with him, asked them to follow him. They watched as he used a key card and opened the door before waving them all inside. When everyone was in, the door shut with a loud bang, startling half of them.

Garnett tried again to make conversation, "I'm Charles Garnett, what's your name?" They already knew each others names, of course, but it was a polite opening that should have been well received. Or it would have been if so far their guide had been treating this like a chore he didn't want to do.

"Finn. We're almost to the others, you can have your questions answered then." Came a snappy reply, causing 10k and the others to exchange looks at his attitude.

The guide wasn't lying, just a few moments later they could all hear raised voices from an open doorway just ahead of them. As they came to a stop they could smell and see that they had been brought to a large cafeteria-style room with both long tables and smaller round ones all mixed together. 10K would bet all his ammo that all of their stomachs rumbled with hunger at the same time.

Their presence was noticed almost immediately by the one that had been next to the doctor yesterday, who was sitting with most of the others at one of the longer tables. 10K watched as he got up, walked to a smaller table where the doctor herself was sitting with another female and tapped her shoulder to get her attention. After a few words, the doctor turned her head and upon seeing them, quickly got up and walked to them.

"Hi everyone and welcome. I'm Clarke Griffin and this is Bellamy Blake as you all know. You made excellent time, we were told you might not make it until much later."

This time, it was Warren that spoke up with a smile. "Thank you for letting us come. We got lucky, no road blocks or anything to slow us down."

Clarke grinned at that, she seemed genuinely glad they hadn't had a hard time. "We are just having breakfast, please sit down and join us."

They all followed her to a table, none of them, of course, had any intention of turning down food. Hardly a heartbeat passed before plates, forks, cups, jugs of water and severing platters piled with food were set down in front of them.

"Eat as much as you want. Behind you on that small counter is coffee and tea if you want those. When you're done we can talk. Enjoy."

10k could only stare in awe at the food in front of him. They were given heaping portions of dried fruit, jerky, oatmeal, and small bowls that held peanut butter and honey. It looked like a feast, one he couldn't wait to dig into.

As they eagerly started to fill their empty stomachs conversation slowly started back up, filling the room again with happy noise and chatter. It was strange to just sit down and enjoy food like this, it was even stranger to sit, be carefree and laugh like 10k could see many of them doing. What would it feel like to let his guard down enough for that? Would he ever be able to?

* * *

Bellamy slouched in his seat with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face as he watched the new group, his anger climbing the longer he stared. He knew in his gut this was a bad move, however, he couldn't say no to Clarke and her reasons. Since they didn't want to let her go to California it would be smart to get some samples of her own so she could run some testing here. The tests she had run on herself hadn't been enough to figure much out, as she had told him numerous times already. There was also the fact that he knew how alone Clarke sometimes felt and that Murphy guy would be someone she could talk to about their shared experiences. While he had reluctantly agreed, that didn't mean he wouldn't also trust his gut. He would just have to keep a very careful eye on them.

Bellamy stretched his legs out, slowly stood up and grabbed the notebook and pencil that had been next to his breakfast plate. Company or not, they had stuff to do.

"Good morning everyone." He even remembered to smile with his greeting. He hoped Clarke saw that maybe she would get off his ass for being so grumpy and demanding when he talked to others. "Before we talk about today, does anyone have news from yesterday that hasn't been reported in yet?" He knew two groups came in pretty late last night that he and Clarke didn't get to talk to, they told them to just go to sleep as they seemed more tired than normal. So it didn't surprise him when Miller raised his hand up. Miller had led one of the scouting parties out the day before, they had been sending a few people out daily when possible to learn what they could about their surroundings.

"Dax, Harper and I came across a farm late yesterday afternoon. They had living survivors on it."

Bellamy's first reaction was anger, this was something they should have reported first thing. Then again, he remembered that he and Clarke had been firm in them getting some rest, even as they had tried to give their report. He could only be angry at himself.

"They saw us, I guess we didn't keep as quiet as we thought."

Ok so maybe Bellamy could be angry at them. Were they seen? His eyes made a fast pass over the three of them. They came back unharmed at least. "What happened?"

"They were nice about it. Shocked to see us, but nice. One man came to talk to us, asked us some questions. And no before you ask, we didn't answer them. When he saw how quiet we were he said he understood why we might not be willing to talk as it's hard to trust people these days. Then he told us that they have a medium size camp and have been working the land and animals they have managed to keep alive. He also stated that they are not the only group, there is another one about one hundred miles away that they often trade with. Then he told us to tell our leader about them, to see if we would be interested in doing trading as well. I said I would bring it up and that was it."

Bellamy caught Clarke's eye and she nodded at him, he knew she would be curious about other survivors and about trading with them. He groaned inwardly, not looking forward to dealing with more new people.

"That might be something worth looking into. Are you up to leading a party to talk to them more? See what they have, what they need, all of that?" Bellamy was glad for Miller's nod. He liked him, he had a good head on his shoulders. "Talk to the others, form a small team and then find Clarke or me. And thanks for being smart about not answering anything." Bellamy smirked at Clarke as he praised Miller. He smiled, was less grumpy and he praised someone! Take that Clarke!

He fought to control his smirk as he asked if anyone had any other news. No one did so he went on to assign the days tasks and almost felt like smiling again when hardly anyone complained. Proud that he got through that without biting someone's head off, he plopped down in his seat to finish eating.

* * *

Clarke shared a smile with Octavia who was sitting next to her, both amused at what they knew Bellamy was thinking. Both females had been on him lately to be nicer because it would make things run smoother.

Seeing that her co-leader was finished and already eating, she knew it was almost her turn. They had agreed that she would be the one to welcome their guests and get them into beds or rooms. Looking over at them, she could see that they had finished all of the food already. It made her happy that they had come here and that they had more than enough food to share, who knows when the last time they had a decent meal had been.

Clarke got up and motioned to Octavia that they needed to get their day started. Octavia was her shadow most days, helping Clarke when she could, learning as she went. Clarke had felt it would be a good idea for someone besides her to be trained and was pleased that it was Octavia that had spoken up, asking to be taught, as they got along great and worked well together.

As they stood up Octavia nudged her in the side and when Clarke saw the wicked grin on her face she almost didn't want to know what she was thinking.

"Don't look now but Mr. Dreamy eyes is so checking you out! He can't take his eyes off of you!"

Clarke didn't have to ask who she was talking about, Octavia had been downright impossible since last night when Clarke had admitted she thought 10k was rather attractive and had amazing eyes. It was true of course, but it had only been said out loud to shut the other girl up when she wanted to hear what Clarke had thought of the other group. She loved Octavia to death, but man could the girl gossip like no one else! Growing up the way she did though, it was understandable that she was trying to make up for lost time of having no friends, or anyone really, to talk to.

She couldn't help but look at him as she said that, and Octavia was right, he was staring right at her. But as soon as their eyes connected he looked away and his cheeks turned slightly pink. Almost as quickly as she processed that she filed it away to think on later, too many things to do today, daydreaming about hot guys with beautiful eyes would have to wait.

Clarke shot Octavia a look that said to behave, ignored her eye roll and walked over to her new patient Murphy and his group. Every step closer, the more she wondered what was wrong with him. He looked like hell and honestly, some of the zombies she had seen had looked better than he did.

Seeing her approach, the one Citizen Z told us was leading them, Charles Garnett, stood up and the others slowly followed his lead.

"If all of you are done eating, we can get you settled into beds or rooms and show you to the showers?"

At their eager nods, Clarke had them follow her out of the cafeteria and down a few hallways. She lead them to the large bunking area they had made up for them to have to themselves and showed them in.

"If you all want to share you can bunk in here. If not, we also have four single rooms available, two back near the cafeteria and two down by the clinic. There are beds in the clinic, so if you want Murphy, you can stay right in there. I have a room down there so I will always be close by if you need me."

Clarke and Octavia stepped away to give them some room to talk, but it didn't take them long to decide that Murphy would take a bed in the clinic, Steven, or Doc as they called him, would take a room near the clinic and all of the others said they would be fine together in the bunking room. Then at the last minute 10k changed his mind and asked to stay in the other room by the clinic. Clarke looked on as his choice made Cassandra look at him in confusion before stepped closer to him, putting her arm around him and leaning in to give him a side hug, laying her head down on his shoulder with a smile afterwards.

Of course, Octavia noticed it as well and whisper hissed her displeasure. "If he is taken what was he giving you those looks for? What a loser! Like we need another Finn around here!"

Clarke couldn't agree more. Finn had been sleeping with Roma at the same time he had slept with Clarke. He had lied and told both girls that he had fallen in love with them and they were the only one he could ever see himself with. It was a total accident that the girls had found out about each other, but they were both glad they did. Since then neither one had hardly anything to do with Finn unless they had to and everyone else had been treating him pretty bad as well. What was it about guys that they felt the need to do that to girls, was one girl not enough?

Before she could get too pissed, she finished showing those staying in the bunks around, making sure they knew where extra blankets and pillows could be found and asking if they needed anything to let her know. Luckily it had two locker style shower rooms that they had also stocked, so they were all set to shower and get cleaned up. Octavia showed them the map on the wall outside the door, making sure they knew how to get to the clinic when done, as they all agreed to meet up there.

Clarke quickly showed Doc and 10k where the clinic was, their rooms and the shared bathrooms on that hall that they all had to share. It wasn't too bad, that hall had five rooms and shared three bathrooms. The clinic also had a full bathroom and smaller sized locker style showers that Clarke and Octavia sometimes used, so really there was more than enough for everyone.

Just like the others, she made sure they knew where everything was and left them to themselves. She showed Murphy to the private bed in the clinic and left him to get cleaned up as well.

While they waited for the group to come back to the clinic to talk about what was going on with Murphy, Clarke had Octavia help her get some basic supplies and equipment on a hip-high rolling cart and placed it next to one of the examination beds. Then Clarke quizzed her on the items and what they did, happy when she got all of it correct.

It didn't take long for them to come in, Murphy took the longest. And they were all shocked when he came out naked except for a towel around his waist.

"What? It's not like I'm not going to have to strip down so she can examine me anyways." Murphy snarked at them.

Clarke couldn't stop the gasp at seeing him. His bite wounds looked terrible, the skin around them looked so dark it could have easily been mistaken as gangrene.

Why didn't he heal like she did?


	9. Chapter 9

Clarke stood in shock with her mouth slightly open for a few heart beats before Octavia nudged her with her elbow. She cleared her throat to cover up her blatantly staring, hoping it didn't look as unprofessional as it was making her feel.

As she turned around so that she could face everyone to let them know what she would be doing, she noticed that some of them had either forgotten the no weapon in the clinic rule or they didn't care. Clarke was betting on the latter.

"I'm sorry, you must have forgotten one of our rules. None of you are allowed to bring weapons into my clinic. You can either go leave them outside or step out and wait for the rest of your group."

Her demand was met with some raised eyebrows, a scoff, and two arms crossings. Clarke didn't let any of it intimidate her, instead she stood her ground, eyeing them all until they went and dropped off their guns, other weapons, and a machete just on the other side of the door. Sure some of them might have hidden weapons but for now she would let it go. It would just make bigger waves than she wanted to deal with if she demanded them to be searched.

"Thank you. Citizen Z sent me Mr. Murphy's prison medical records, unfortunately and understandably, they were not updated with what was done to him. However it will at least give me a base to work with on his normal vitals, known medicine's he is allergic to, and any past health issues that may factor in to his current health problems. Citizen Z has asked me to add to the file whatever we do and find today and to give it to your group when you leave so that the clinic you are taking him to can have a more current medical history."

While Clarke talked she moved to stand directly in front of her new patient. "Mr. Murphy, can you tell me what's been going on?"

Murphy had watched her come closer to him with narrowed eyes and when she directed her question at him he kept staring at her as if trying to get a read on her, to find out what her intentions were. She relaxed her face but didn't smile, she didn't want to trick him into trusting her with fake smiles or false assurances.

"My hair was falling out in clumps, so I ended up shaving it all off. My teeth have been feeling loose lately, my bones ache, I'm either burning hotter than the fires of hell or freezing my ass off and my eyesight has been wonky. Is that enough info for you missy?"

She ignored his snark and focused instead on the examination, trying not to let it get to her when it lasted much longer than it should have due to random questions from the group of people around her.

Of course, they all wanted to know what was wrong with him right away, but she wasn't a fortune teller. All she could do was tell them the truth, that she would check a few things out and let them know as soon as possible.

What she didn't tell them was that she already had a pretty good idea what had happened to him. She just didn't know why, or how it happened.

Somehow, someway, Murphy's body was accepting the virus instead of fighting it. Now the cause might have to do with whatever it was that he was given, but Clarke had never heard of a vaccine that took over the like this seemed to be doing. In her body, her white blood cells did their job and the virus didn't last long in her body. Clarke had yet to find out if it survived long enough inside her to make any permanent changes, only time and more testing would tell. However in his body? His body seemed to accept it, not doing anything to try and kick it out. Could the vaccine they had given him damaged his white blood cells? Somehow making it possible for his DNA structure to have changed when bitten? It was a scary thought.

While it may not be killing him as of right now, it sure was changing him in ways that Clarke was unsure could be fixed. She didn't know what, if anything, she could do for him. However, guesses could be made all day long but until his samples were examined, there was no way to know for sure.

A few hours later and many after many tests, there was finally an answer for them. Doubtful that it would be one that they liked, but one nonetheless.

It gave more questions than answers, something that ate at Clarke. It didn't give any idea of why she didn't turn, or what was in her body making her immune to their bites. It was foolish to think that testing his blood would give her something more than frustration.

* * *

While Clarke and his sister tested Murphy's blood, hopefully finding out what was wrong with him, Bellamy called a meeting for those that had jobs to do that afternoon. Mostly he wanted to go over with Miller what he would be doing that afternoon. Before he was able to get to far into talking with Miller and his group, the rest of Murphy's people came in.

Bellamy wanted this group gone as fast as he could get them out. They were a group of hard core survivors, the kind that would do anything they had to. Top that with a mission that could save the rest of the world? Yeah, they had the potential to be a dangerous group, one he did not want his people around for longer than absolutely necessary. That's why when one of them spoke up about helping he wanted to say no and he almost kicked Miller when he said he could use some. Luckily for him, it was only 10k and the old guy that agreed to help Miller out, the rest of Murphy's group went to a table a few away from theirs and talked softly to themselves. Out of all of them he thought the old guy and the teen looked the most trustworthy, but that wasn't saying much.

When they had first arrived Monty had found an inventory list of everything the base had in stock, something that was going to come in handy for situations like this. He had been looking it over since breakfast, making a list of what they could offer in trade depending on what the other group had. Considering that they told Miller they had been working the land and had animals, Bellamy was hopeful that they could trade for some fresh meat or maybe even some smaller animals for themselves that they could raise.

"Miller, you take Harper and these two and see if you can talk to those people again. I have a list for you but I'm going to rip it in two. This first half are things we can easily trade and do without, then this bottom half are things I want you to see if you can use for better trades. I'll trust you and your judgment." He handed the two slips to Miller and watched as he read it over, making a mental list.

"Hey Bellamy, there is another thing we can offer."

Bellamy couldn't even come close to guessing what Miller was talking about and so he was blindsided when he told him.

"We have Clarke, we can offer not only these medical supplies but treatment or maybe even a few first aid classes, something like that. Instead of letting them know where we are exactly, we can say we can bring her for a weekly visit or something. I'm sure not only are the medical supplies limited but so are people that know how to use them correctly."

Bellamy's fists clenched and even knowing it wasn't how Miller meant it, he lashed out. "Clarke IS NOT something to offer up as trade, she's a person and a member of our group! What are you even thinking? Forget it, there is no way I'm letting her leave the base for something like that!"

Miller held up his hands and answered him calmly. "You know that's not what I meant. You said you trusted my judgment and trusted me. I'm thinking about everyone here and besides, you know if I told Clarke she would willingly go if it meant getting more for the group."

He was right, Clarke would willingly do it, no question about it. That didn't mean he had to like it or let her do it if he could stop her. "She's still not on the list, don't even mention it to them that we have a doctor Miller, I mean it."

Miller agreed and after grabbing everything they needed they went on their way. Bellamy mentally wished them a safe trip before going back to the rest of his group to make sure all was set for the other jobs lined up.

* * *

10k wasn't sure what made him speak up to offer his help, he certainly didn't plan on it. It was over and done with now though, he thought to himself as they geared up to go on this trade meet up.

It wasn't a hard trek to the farm and were all thankful they didn't see any Z's on the way. 10K stayed in the back watching out and once Miller stated they were close Doc came back to walk with him.

"Hey Kid, you holding up ok back here?"

Doc was one of a kind, easily 10k's favorite person in his group, maybe his favorite person he had come across since he had to put his Pa- no, he wasn't thinking of that.

He gave a half smile to the old man along with a nod of his head. While he didn't mind lagging behind and watching the others backs, he knew that Doc worried about him, he could tell in the looks he gave him and the way he would check up on him, asking if he was ok. It really was alright with him though, not only did he feel useful but he liked the solitude. Not to say that he didn't like the others, he did, he just liked not always feeling like he had to find things to say and to hold up his end of any conversations. Sometimes he had nothing to say, sometimes he just didn't want to say anything and quite often he had no idea what to say. He had seen the way the others looked at him when he was quiet or when he just shrugged in response to them and to be honest, it did bug him a little but it was easy to ignore it for the most part. He was who he was.

They got to the farm and right away the people started circling around Miller, all fighting for his attention to start trading with him. 10K could see this would quickly go down hill. He took a deep breath and let out a loud whistle to the shock of everyone gathered.

He fought the strong need to flee from having everyone's gaze on him. "Listen up, this isn't a race so there is no need to rush. Let's take a step back and see if we can handle this better."

Miller gave him a thumbs up and a huge grin in thanks as the crowd thinned out and people sat down and in a much calmer order started either listing off what they had, what they wanted, or both.

* * *

Clarke and Octavia finished cleaning up the clinic before grimly leaving it in search of Murphy and his group. Not only did they know that their answers wouldn't go over well, they also felt like they failed as they have no clue what to do to help Murphy, or even if anything even would.

Their search led them to the cafeteria where everyone that was in the building was sitting down for some lunch. Stepping in had all eyes on them, the weight of the stares heavy and curious. Clarke ignored the way Bellamy was waiting on her to go to him, instead going straight to the table Murphy was at.

She didn't waste any time and went right into it. "We've finished all the tests I could think of, would you like to come back to the clinic so we can talk about what we found?"

Murphy glared at her, looked down at his plate, then back up to her. "Why would I want to leave this perfectly good food to walk all the way to the clinic, hear what you have to say and then back here? You can just save us the trip and speak here."

Clarke shouldn't have been as startled by his tone and words as she was, he really a very unpleasant person, which she already knew.

"Alright then. Your body is declining in health because of the virus, thanks to the vaccine. Your white blood cells are trying to do its job and fight off the infection at the same time that the virus is trying to take over. The vaccine they gave you obviously was meant to change the way the virus reacted to the human body, sort of like a counter effect. However, in your body, at the same time as it's doing that, it's also slowly taking over. You aren't turning but you're not healthy or, as far as I can tell, going to get healthier."

The silence was overwhelming after she was done explaining, as was the looks she was getting. None of that hit her more than the two tears she saw fall from Murphy's eyes before he quickly wiped them away and closed off any emotion from showing on his face. It was too late, though, she had already saw them and didn't know what to make of them.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry everyone, this chapter was written, torn apart and rewritten more than a dozen times. Finally said screw it and separated things into the next chapter.

* * *

Miller was so pleased with 10k's offer of help, as he quickly noticed that he really knew what he was doing. Miller was sure if had he been in charge of the trading, there was no way that they would have walked away with as much as they did.

To trade they offered two hundred pounds each of rice, flour and wheat; one hundred pounds each of dry beans, sugar and salt; fifty pounds of assorted seeds along with many quantities of toothpaste, bleach, bar soap, toilet paper, feminine supplies and various medical supplies that would have been available over the counter before the end of the world.

In return, they got the fresh meat Bellamy had wanted, just maybe not in the form he had figured on. They would be bringing home a rooster with four laying hens, two goats, four chickens, a dozen rabbits and four big barrels of fresh produce.

Everyone left the meeting happy, looking forward to the exchange that would happen the next day.

* * *

Walking back, 10k felt thankful that his knowledge and experience in trading helped someone. It made him feel good to be useful in things than killing. He had given the list of supplies a glance and knew what they would be getting was worth what they had given up. Having animals that could produce more animals as well as being a food source was important. They would take some work and time, but really, what did anyone have these days but time?

"Man that was awesome, you handled that like a pro!" Miller's praise made him a little embarrassed, but proud as he explained.

"Before the Z's came I lived in the mountains with my Pa, I would go with him when he went to different trading posts. He taught me the best trades ended with both parties leaving satisfied and feeling that they came out on top. That's what happened today."

Doc was shocked that the kid talked that much, and about something so personal. "Well hell kid, I don't think I've ever heard you talk that much. I think your Pa would have been proud of you today, you did one hell of a job."

Miller could see his growing embarrassment and didn't want him to get too flustered, so as they got closer to home he changed the topic. "I hope you can help us set up homes or whatever those animals will need. I can promise you that none of us have ever had to take care of a live animal before!"

10k had already been making plans in his head for the things they would need to make for them, the rabbits especially required plenty of room for breeding "Of course, when we get back I'll get started."

Just before they came to the narrow, passable part of the river separating them from the farmers, they heard a loud scream and shouting coming from just across the water. They paused, looking at each other, unsure of what to do. It was a terrified female's voice shouting a name they all knew that had them running. They had no idea what was going on, they all just knew that they had to go and help.

* * *

No one in Murphy's group liked what Clarke had to say, which was understandable, as she had just let them know that she didn't think she could do anything for him. They all started speaking over one another, getting louder and louder with every question and demand. Clarke froze, not knowing who to answer first. Help came from behind her as Bellamy came up and laid his hand on her shoulder.

"What's going on here?" Bellamy barked out, using his no-nonsense voice, as Jasper liked to call it.

Clarke told him that they had examined Murphy and just finished giving them the results. Results that Bellamy could clearly see that they didn't like.

"Alright, there's no need to jump all over Clarke, she did what she was asked of her. I think we all need to take a step back and think about things. Everyone can meet up again later with clearer heads." Bellamy didn't even give them time to talk him into changing his mind, he grabbed Clarke and his sister by their wrists, dragging them away.

"Clarke, why don't you take Jasper down to the river to check on the fish traps?"

Clarke nodded and walked off in search of Jasper, shaking her head in fond amusement as the Blake siblings started on the never-ending bickering over why Bellamy wouldn't let Octavia go out that often.

Jasper wasn't that hard to find, nor was it hard to get him to agree to go with her. He liked going out and exploring when possible, then going back home and making notes on the things he found and saw. One of the walls in his room was filled with a roughly drawn map of the surrounding area that he was working on when he could find the time.

They made a few stops to get the gear they needed and quickly left, both in a rush to leave for awhile.

Both walked in a comfortable silence for the first half of the walk while watching all around them, making sure no zombies were around. Just as they reached the river some rustling behind them made them both spin and point their guns in the direction the noise was coming from.

"Whoa, guys! It's me!"

Clarke groaned, pissed that she didn't see this coming. "Damn it, Octavia, why do you keep sneaking out? Bellamy is going to have another fit when we get back!"

Octavia shrugged her shoulders, uncaring at what her overprotective brother would say. It wouldn't be the first time he lectured her, she doubted it would be the last. "He can't keep me inside all the time, I've had enough of being locked away. Besides, you sad yourself that I was really good at target practice."

"Yes, that may be true. But it does you no good when you come out here empty handed. You know it's not safe!" Clarke scolded her, really disappointed that she didn't have anything on her. Just as she was going to grab the extra gun in her pack she spotted something coming towards them from the corner of her eye.

"Watch out!"

Her warning came too late, she could do nothing but watch as a long spear hit Jasper on the shoulder hard enough to make him spin and fall with a scream. Octavia rushed to his side, carefully turning him over to see how badly he was hurt. She looked up at Clarke who was standing watch over them with her gun out, trying to find where the attack came from.

"Clarke, the spear is embedded in his shoulder, he's bleeding bad."

"Put pressure on it, is he conscious? Shit, I can't see where it came from!"

"Yeah, he's looking at me but I think he may be in shock."

Clarke was alarmed, knowing it was no zombie that threw that spear and they were out in the open with no cover, open to more attacks from an unknown source as she still couldn't see anyone.

The unknown source seemed to appear out of thin air as a small group, five men, and a female surrounded them. Clarke was fast to evaluate them, they all looked travel weary, tired and all carried some sort of weapon. Their only way out was to fight through them or escape to the river behind them. Going into the water with a bleeding and hurt Jasper was not her first choice.

"What do you want?" Clarke asked in a firm voice, trying her best to sound more in control than she was. She had no idea how her gun wasn't shaking.

"The boy, give us the boy." One of the men gruffly told her, motioning with the long knife he was holding to Jasper.

Give them Jasper? What in the world? "What for?"

The same man answered her, giving her the impression that this was their leader. "Just walk away and you won't get hurt."

Clarke was sure she didn't mean that. That was what the bad guys always said, right? When she didn't move away one of the other men came closer, swinging an ax up and getting it ready to strike. "Take the girl and get gone!"

She asked again, "What do you want with him? He hasn't done anything to anyone!"

The ax holding man grinned at her, showing broken and yellow teeth. "We are hungry girl and unless you want to join your friend, do as I said, take the girl and leave."

There was no way they meant what she thought they meant right? Jasper as... food? Behind her Octavia gagged and started crying as one of the men casually mentioned cooking this one whole as to not waste any.

Well then. There was no question about it. They would be fighting them.

Clarke didn't even blink as she quickly fired three shots, getting the female in the head, one of the men in the neck and another in the chest. She swallowed back the nauseating feeling of having to kill a human, Citizen Z had warned them that there might be a day when they had no choice but to kill the living or be killed. In no way did she actually think she would ever have to do it and in no way was she prepared for it. But there was no other option for her, as there was no way she was going to let them take Jasper or Octavia.

The remaining three started cursing up a storm and circling them, quickly closing in. She took out another with a shot to the head right before two of them swung their weapons at her, making her jump back and duck. In a slightly crunched position, Clarke thought of her options while trying to keep herself between them and her two defenseless friends behind her. Jasper had a gun but she didn't know if it was out, or if he was even capable of using it correctly right now. And from how much Octavia was panicking, there was no way she would be of any help.

As if just now noticing that it was down to just two of them, the remaining men paused and gave a signal to each other. At a nod from one, they came at her again, one going low, slicing Clarke on the side as she dropped low from the other knife that was aimed at her throat.

She winced and sucked in a pain-filled breath, knowing without looking that it was a deep cut. The knife was long, sharp and his aim was true.

Neither man showed signs of slowing down as they came at her again and again, making her defend more than attack back. It gave her no time to shoot her gun and she didn't want to shoot wildly with the limited ammo they had on them. Clarke dropped the gun and kicked it behind her, choosing instead to use the two trench knives she had on her hips. With one in each hand, she steadied herself, getting her body balanced as she got ready to lounge.

She never got the chance.

Octavia yelled something from behind her that she couldn't make out over how loudly her heart was beating.

A shot rang out and Clarke heard someone stumble but didn't turn and take her eyes off of the two in front of her to look.

Octavia screamed out her name and a second later she felt something slam into her body, causing her to fall hard.

Then blackness.

She didn't see Octavia shooting Jasper's gun for the second time, this time aiming better and killing the man that Clarke had before hit in the chest.

She didn't see or hear Miller calling their names from across the river.

Or see 10k stop, bend to one knee, aim and rapidly fire off shots, making sure that the others fell and didn't come back up.

Clarke had no idea what a scary picture she made as she laid there in a pool of her own blood, coming from where she hit her head on a rock.


	11. Chapter 11

When they heard the screaming, even as they heard Clarke's name, what they saw, wasn't what they expected. Maybe someone fell and got hurt. Or maybe a Z got too close and scared someone.

Instead, they saw Clarke guarding two people, laid out behind her, against others. Then in a blink of an eye, everything changed. One person who had seemed to be dead rose up, looking like he was going to go after Clarke. Before he could get close enough, Octavia shot at him, missing the first time but hitting him the next time straight in the head. It just so happened that of course he was within reach of Clarke and slammed into her as he fell from the killing shot.

10k didn't even entertain the thought of stopping to ask questions. He just steadied his gun and took aim, rapidly firing. As the last body was hitting the ground he and the others were up and running, rushing across the lake.

Clarke was knocked out with a dead body half covering her body and the amount of blood surrounding her head was worrisome, they needed to move fast.

Octavia was hysterically saying over and over it was her fault, that she shouldn't have come out. She was moving her hands frantically over Jasper's shoulder, trying to do something but clearly in too shocked to think about what she should be doing.

"Octavia, you have to calm down to tell us what happened here."

"Oh-ohh God Miller! Those, those p-people," Octavia paused to try her best to control her breathing and keep calm as Clarke had been trying to drill into her head, they needed to try and always have a level head in dangerous situations. "They just came out of nowhere and attacked Jasper! Then when Clarke tried to talk with them they told her that they just wanted to take him!" She turned towards Miller with her wide eyes, tears falling and face still pale from the events. "Miller, I think.. I think they wanted to eat him! Eat Jasper!"

10k could see the thought of a human eating another was something Miller couldn't grasp. He, on the other hand, shared a look with Doc. It was something that had already seen and not something that surprised them.

Doc took control of the situation and with 10k and Miller's help, they had the injured brought back safely and as fast as they could manage.

When they walked through the doors, it was their misfortune that Bellamy was the first to see them.

* * *

Bellamy had heard the saying 'seeing red' but this was the first time experiencing it. Seeing Clarke in the arms of the young sniper guy, bleeding like crazy made his mind jump to some conclusions that maybe went a bit too far. Not that he would admit to that of course. And then his mind took a sharp left turn when he saw his sister come in with them. His sister who he had told to stay behind where it was safe. His sister that was looking at him like she was guilty of something.

"What happened to Clarke and Jasper? O, what did you do?"

Later on, while looking back at this moment he would recall how hard she flinched back and cringed at his tone. Right now though his temper was too far gone to see any of that.

"I didn't do anything! I did sneak out but I had nothing to do with them getting hurt!"

Bellamy and Octavia might have kept yelling at each other for who knows how long if Jasper didn't open his mouth. "Hello, bleeding hurt people here. Can you argue later?"

Octavia pushed them forward, guiding them to the clinic, ignoring her brother's protests and demands the whole way.

Bellamy followed them, stopping at the door and watching, upset that he wasn't being told what happened and proud of the way she was taking charge.

"Lay Jasper on that table and cut off his shirt, be careful not to move the spear. And lay Clarke here, she's the one I'm most worried about. She's bleeding from her head and side."

The next hour was a blur of blood, cleaning and stitching wounds and relieved sighs.

"Well luckily for us, the spear wasn't in as deep as I thought. Jasper you will have to take it easy while that heals but I'm pretty sure you're going to be fine. Still, it would be best let Clarke look at it when she can. I gave you something for the pain and to help you sleep for now. Clarke got a really deep knife slash on her side that I had to stitch up, it's going to limit her movement until it heals. Now we just have to wait for her to wake up so we can make sure nothing happened inside her head. Although I'm sure she's going to be just fine as well." Octavia was flushed with happiness, proud of what she had done without Clarke's help. She couldn't wait to tell Clarke all about it later. "Thank you, all of you, for your help. Now let's give them some space to rest. Miller, could you stay and keep an eye out for when Clarke wakes up?" She gave him a grateful smile when he said he would, then followed the others out.

They walked past one of the rooms they had set up as a hang out room and stopped when they heard voices.

"Clarke is our main doctor, why if she off running around outside? I don't care how well she can take care of herself! She needs to be confined here for the sake of everyone. What happens to us if she dies before fully teaching someone else?"

Bellamy was irritated that Dax was trying to cause more drama, this wasn't the first time he had gathered a few people and tried to stir things up. "Dax what bullshit are you talking about now? Didn't we discuss this already? Stop trying to cause trouble."

Dax was leaning against one wall with his arms crossed and one leg bent under him. He didn't even seem bothered by their presence, but Finn and Monroe wouldn't turn to look Bellamy in the eye, embarrassed to be caught.

"I'm just saying what we are all thinking man, that's all. Clarke doesn't need to be off playing around in the forest when her skills are so important."

Dax got a nasty smile on his face when he looked passed Bellamy and saw Octavia, "And that's another thing! I heard that Octavia took off again when you told her to stay behind. Did Clarke get hurt because your sister yet again forgot to take a weapon with her outside? Someone needs to put your sister in her place."

* * *

10k walked behind the others and while he could clearly hear what was going on, from the corner of his eyes he could also see Clarke coming their way. Miller was obviously trying to get her to go back to the clinic and even 10k could tell that was a lost cause. She did stop, it just wasn't to go back to the clinic. She tilted her head to the side as if she was trying to hear something better before shoving Miller's hand off her arm and stomped towards them with the angriest look 10k had ever seen on a females face.

10k might have asked how she was doing, if only she didn't clamp her hand over his mouth before he could make a sound, whispering that he be quiet. The poor guy wouldn't have been able to talk if he could, his whole body trembled and his eyes went cross as he glanced at her hand on his mouth, the mouth that had become bone dry the instant she touched him.

He didn't make a move to get her to remove her hand, instead, he studied her face up close. The speed at which the emotions raced across her face was fascinating to him, terrifying, but fascinating. There was amusement, anger, bitterness, and then fury.

Too soon for his liking, her hand was removed and he could only blink his eyes slowly and shudder as he watched her push her way forward.

10k was still staring at her, slightly confused with what he was feeling when a thud made him look up.

Dax was still in the same spot, just with the added addition of a knife thrown into the wall right next to his ear.

"I need to be confined, Dax? Did I hear you right? I shouldn't be allowed to leave? And who is going to stop me, you? You are not in charge of me." Clarke paused to see what he would say and seemed even madder when he only stuttered out mumbled nonsense. "And while I agree that no one should go anywhere without a weapon, what gives you the right to lay blame on Octavia like that? Put her in her place? I think it's you that needs to be put in place."

She stopped directly in front of him and as she reached up to pull the knife out she whispered something in his ear. Whatever she said caused Dax to become even paler than he was thanks to the knife and vigorously nod his head. "Good, I'm glad you agree with me."

"Octavia, come with me and tell me what had to be done. I need to check on Jasper as well. Bellamy, I'll come find you later." Everyone made a path for them and she left as fast as she had come.

"Damn that girl has balls of steel!"

Doc's comment had them all laughing. Even though it wasn't that loud and shouldn't have reached, 10k saw Clarke look back and laugh right after Doc spoke. Coincidence? Possibly, but something wasn't wasn't right and he was itching to look into it.

Her hand over his mouth already a fleeting memory to be remembered later as questions ran throughout his head about her, how could she had been up and walking around so fast, looking like she wasn't in any pain and hadn't just gotten more than ten stitches on her side?

Clarke was a puzzle to him.

And he had always enjoyed puzzles.

* * *

Clarke could feel his stare as they left, causing her a flash of annoyance at the thought of taken guys checking out other girls. The world was gone and all that was left was this hell, couldn't guys be less scummy now?

Octavia prattled on, making sure she was up to date and Clarke felt proud and didn't hesitate to compliment the girl on her quick thinking and stitching skill. The feeling grew as she checked Jasper over, glad to see that he would indeed be fine.

Clarke was going to head to her room for a change of clothes before showering, yet, when she turned to tell her assistant that, she could clearly see there was something bothering her.

"Let's go to my room. Monty gave me his candy bar yesterday, wanna split it?" She playfully bumped her shoulder against Octavia's. All she got in return was a one shoulder shrug but was followed when she left the clinic.

Clarke waited as the door to her room shut and they both sat on the bed.

She waited some more as she unwrapped the candy and broke it in half.

Her patience lasted until after they had finished eating in total silence.

"Tell me what's wrong." She demanded, ready to force out whatever it was that was causing her normally happy friend to look like someone just told her this was all a dream and she was back on the Ark, hidden from everyone.

"Bellamy blamed me. Dax blamed me. I know I shouldn't go off without anyone knowing but he treats me like such a baby! I can't stand it!"

"Bellamy shouldn't have done that. You make sure he apologizes and feel free to make him work for it, that was inexcusable of him. And you know Dax is a trouble maker, don't pay any attention to anything he says. But Octavia, you do have to stop going out like that. And with no weapon? What would have happened today if I wasn't there or you were alone? The world is a dangerous place, and as you saw today, not just from the zombies." Clarke hated coming down on her like that but she needed to get through to her.

"You're mad at me too! I thought you would be on my side!"

Clarke stayed sitting down as Octavia jumped up and started pacing angrily. "Why does everyone always go on his side? Doesn't anyone care what I want?" While willing to let her pace and get some anger out, Clarke wasn't willing to watch her take such little care towards her own safety.

"That's enough." The sharp tone Clarke used froze Octavia, having never had that tone used on her before. "When it comes to someone's safety, there is no side. I agree with him that you need to stop sneaking out and you HAVE to carry a weapon everywhere you go. This isn't like one of the video games you've been playing with the guys. This is real life, there are no do-overs. I do care what you want but I want you alive and safe to do those things."

Octavia was taken back by her words, stunned with the wake-up call she was just given. Wouldn't her brother be jealous when he found out that someone else had gotten through to her with just a few words?

Her mentor that she greatly respected and looked up to wasn't finished.

"If I catch you outside again without anyone knowing or without a weapon I will suspend you from working with me for two weeks. If I catch you again after that, I will have to find someone else to teach. If you don't care about your own life, how am I supposed to trust you with another's life?"

The words were harsh, causing hot tears of shame run down Octavia's cheeks. The disappointment shining in Clarke's eyes hurt more than anything her brother had said to her before this.

"I won't let you down again, you can trust me."

Octavia didn't give her a chance to say anything back as she fled from the room, in a hurry to get to her own so she could cry in private. As the day's events flashed in her mind, she vowed to be more careful and to make sure that she was someone Clarke and everyone else could count on and never doubt again.

* * *

A/N: I need a last name for 10k, anyone have any ideas? We know from the show that the first name his parents gave him (not the name he wants to be called after he kills his zombies) was Tommy. Any ideas about what would go well with that? Middle name suggestions might come in handy as well, as nothing I've come up with so far seems to flow.


	12. Chapter 12

Clarke could hear Octavia crying in her room and had to force herself to stay in her own room instead of going and comforting her friend, knowing that was the last thing she needed. While it hurt her to say those things, Octavia needed to hear them. It was important for her to wake up from the fairy tale she was living in her head that let her believe just because they had made it to Earth, that they would live. Or that Bellamy would always be around to protect her. Nothing was guaranteed, the sooner Octavia realized that the better and longer she would survive.

She was debating in her head on what to do with her free time when someone knocked on her door. With a sigh she got up to open it, knowing that her free time was over before she got to enjoy a second of it.

Clarke rolled her eyes at the grin on Bellamy's face when she answered his knock. That grin was never good.

"Bellamy. What do you want this time?"

"Come on Clarke, you act like I'm always up to no good."

She raised one eyebrow at him and crossed her arms, not really in the mood to play his games.

"Fine alright, don't give me the look! The guys are going to see if we have enough people to put together a small poker tournament."

She just stayed silent and waited for him to get to the point. She knew Bellamy wasn't there to ask if she wanted to play if so, he would have just come out and asked her.

"Clarke, oh great one, would you please take my next shift so I can go join them?"

Clarke almost laughed when Bellamy Blake actually tried a pout. "Depends on the job." She wasn't going to just agree without knowing, as it was well known that Bellamy (and often times her as well) took the harder jobs.

"Monroe and Finn didn't go fishing this morning, they said the area was clogged again on two sides."

They had a few places they liked to fish, one place, however, was really good but completely out in the open. To protect whoever was fishing at the time, they sectioned off the spot with a chain link fence that they could go into and lock themselves in. It was large enough for a few people, chairs, and all their gear. While it helped make fishing there very easy, the downside was that since it was used so often, it tended to attract the dead and when it got bad enough they had to be taken care of. Of course, another flaw was that the zombies could get in from the waters side since it wasn't a completely enclosed fence but so far that hadn't happened and if it happened while someone was there, they would be facing the water and could see them coming.

"How clogged?"

"Finn said about a dozen."

"Sure, I'll take care of it. You take my clean up duty tonight?" Clarke didn't mind doing her share, not at all, however, anything kitchen related she always was up to trade.

"Deal and thanks, Clarke."

After he gave her a quick run down on the trading situation, she watched him as he seemed to hesitate on saying something.

"What is it, Bellamy?"

"I know Octavia stitched you up, but it doesn't seem to be bothering you. Are you hiding the pain or is it like the other day?"

That day she had been with Bellamy fishing and while she was gutting and filleting a fish, her fingers slipped and the knife sliced deep into her palm. It bled furiously for a moment and they quickly wrapped it up. A few hours later when they got back, he had to remind her to clean her palm up as she had completely forgotten about it. She unwrapped her hand and to the shock of both of them, her palm looked like it had already been healing for some time. They didn't know what to think about it and she still didn't. There had been no time for testing since then but she would have to find time to do so soon, as it was too important not to find out all they could.

"Yes, it's like the other day." She wished she had more to offer him, some kind of explanation. She had a theory, just not the time to really test it and look into it. And, yeah, maybe she was stalling a little bit since the testing meant cutting herself to see how fast she healed.

He gave a nod as if she only confirmed what he already knew and left after letting her know that he wanted to figure it out soon.

While she gathered up what she needed from her room she wondered who Bellamy had been partnered with, as they liked to assign outside tasks to at least a pair when possible. She hoped it wasn't Dax or she might be tempted to not bring him back.

* * *

Even though 10k was following Doc and a few others to where ever they were going, his mind was back on Clarke. What was it about her that he couldn't get out of his head? And why was he thinking about how soft her skin looked? What was wrong with his brain today?

"...and I traded with Clarke to play some poker, that means one of you have to go with her since my partner was Dax and they don't need to be forced together just yet."

10k almost walked right into Doc's back, he was that lost in his thoughts that he didn't see that they had arrived and was talking to Bellamy.

Doc turned around, grinned at him and slapped him on the shoulder. "Whatcha say, Kid? Wanna play some poker?"

10k could only pull up one shoulder in a half-shrug, honestly not sure if he wanted to play. Not only did poker not sound entertaining to him, he also didn't want to say no to Doc. Something about the old man tugged at his heart. He still didn't know why he saved him when he did. There had been other people to come and go, he might even have been able to save some, but never tried before Doc. The more he got to know Doc, the more he found himself looking out for him, watching his back more than anyone else. He even went as far as sneaking some of his own rations into Doc's bag when no one was paying attention.

10k looked around Doc, trying to find out what was going on. Doc saw where his attention was and filled him in on what he missed.

"They are going to set up a poker tournament and Bellamy traded some job with that doctor of theirs so he could play. He's seeing who wants to go with her since it's a two man job."

Before his brain caught up with his mouth he had already spoken. "I'll go with her."

10k turned away from Doc's questioning gaze, it was asking questions that he really had no answer for.

He felt like taking it back when almost everyone turned to stare at him, attention was the last thing he wanted. Thankfully Bellamy answered him quickly, thanking him, explained what they would be doing and where to meet her. With a nod that he understood and a quick word with Doc that he would be back later, he was off.

Walking up he could see that she didn't expect him. "Bellamy asked for someone to replace Dax." His explanation was well received, he could tell that she was thankful for the change in partners.

"Did he tell you what we have to do?" 10k nodded at her and then assured her that he was ready when she asked.

It didn't take long for them to get to the area and they were able to take care of the Z's without any problem.

Clarke slowly walked closer, not lowering her gun and double checked that they got them all. After she was finally sure, she put her gun back in the holster on her belt and grabbed one by its feet, dragging it away from the fence. He noticed that she didn't seem to be favoring the side that had got stitched up and wondered if she took something for the pain or she was just that good at blocking out the pain she had to have been feeling.

"Uh, excuse me? What are you doing?"

Not stopping what she was doing, she answered him. "Since we come here often, we don't want large piles of these laying around. So we burn them."

Working together it didn't take them long to finish piling them and to get a fire started.

"We have to stick around for awhile, just to make sure the fire is all out."

10k told her that he understood and walked over to the fishing area. "Too bad we didn't bring anything to fish with."

Clarke came up behind him, startling him at how quiet she was, he wasn't used to anyone sneaking up on him. "Do you like to fish?"

"I used to. Before." He bit his thumbnail to force himself not to say anything else. He was grateful that she didn't ask any questions, he didn't want to talk about his time fishing _before. _That was precious time spent with his Pa fishing, or with his cousin when he was around, not something he wanted to talk about. Some of his favorite memories with both his Pa and cousin featured fishing and his heart clenched at the thought of them. He had to give himself a mental shake and push the thought of his cousin away to the back of his head, where it hurt less to think of him. He still didn't know what happened to him but liked to think that he was one of the few that were made for this new world and was alive somewhere.

She seemed to be comfortable in the silence like he was, but he felt like he wanted to say something, he wanted to talk to her. He just didn't know what to say. The weather? That the day was sunny with a good chance of Z's? He mental sighed to himself at his lame thoughts.

He didn't know if she felt the need to fill the silence as well, but she started speaking just before he was about to possibly say something embarrassing. "Bellamy updated me on the trade, said that Miller told him that without you, it wouldn't have gone as well as it did. You really helped us out a lot, thank you. "

As he turned to look at her felt the back of his neck heat up at her complement and opened his mouth, to his horror, though, nothing would come out. Instead, he tried to give her a smile, hoping that it at least came out right.

She plowed on as if his lack of reply didn't bother her. "And I heard that you will also be helping plan some sort of home or cages for the animals to live in?"

Finally, a question he was positive he had the right answer for. "Yeah. Raising animals and making homes for them isn't anything new to me. I don't mind helping."

"I was wondering, would it be possible to make a mobile farm? We have a school bus, could they live in that?

That wasn't something he was expecting and it made him stop and think.

"I haven't done anything like that before, but yeah, I think it could be done. Though it would take more supplies and work." He could have sworn that they already had a plan for animals, a grassy area already fenced off. Why wouldn't they use that? "Although it may be better for the animals if we make the cages easy to transport and just leave them outside. I'll also help work on the vehicle you pick, make shelves and get it set up so that all you have to do is put the animals in their places."

"Yeah? Okay then, I'll trust your opinion on them if you say it would be better for them outside. I was thinking that we should have something in place just in case anything happens and we have to leave here. Then we would have a portable food source on the go."

He was impressed, it was a really smart idea. "That's a good idea, it's not easy finding food when you're on the road, not easy at all." He thought back on how often they went hungry and thirsty, a portable farm would take more work and gas but very worth it if they ever had to leave, hopefully, something that never had to happen.

After that, they silently stood watching as the fire died down, leaving as soon as it was put out.

"On the way back do you mind a slight stop?"

He didn't really and told her so, before following behind her as they headed back.

* * *

Clarke was happy, she had a plan in motion for a way to move the animals if they ever had to leave. Maybe they never had to use it, she hoped not. It was going to be one of those "just in case" things that got planned for the worst.

Not long into their walk back she reached into her bag and pulled out two folded up cloth totes and tossed one to her silent partner, laughing at his confused look. "It's for apples. Up ahead there are some apple trees and we are going to take some home." She enjoyed the face he made and how he walked just a bit faster. And tried to ignore how her heart skipped a beat as she watched his face light up when he spotted the apple trees she was talking about.

Between the both of them, it didn't take long to fill their bags of delicious looking apples and Clarke walked up to him just as he was reaching up to grab one last one.

"We should start heading back, don't want your girlfriend to start wondering where you are." She was mostly teasing but there was a small part that didn't want to cause any sort of problems.

10k had just taken a drink of water and started coughing at her words, causing the water to go down wrong.

"Girl what? Girlfriend?" He sputtered out. "No. I don't have one."

Clarke turned around to start walking so he wouldn't see her grin. "Oh, my mistake." His embarrassment amused her the whole way back, not that she let it show as she didn't want him to think she was laughing at him.


	13. Chapter 13

The walk back was quiet, something that made 10k nervous and relaxed. She didn't try to talk to him, didn't ask questions, she didn't even ask about his name! Almost everyone up to her had asked about it, why wasn't she? She was just silently leading them back. Each step she took impressed him, she walked as silently as he did. Maybe even more so since she knew the area, while he was just starting to learn it.

He, on the other hand, had many questions he wanted to ask her, the problem was opening his mouth, which felt like it was glued shut. Finally, he forced himself to just enjoy the peacefulness that she gave off and worry finding out a way to talk to her later.

When they got back, the poker games had just ended and everyone was making their way to dinner. Something 10k still couldn't wrap his head around. These people had hot food daily. Not only food but clean water, hot showers and fresh clothes. It was almost as if the Z's weren't right outside their doors and they were just living like normal, well, what used to be normal. Until you looked closer and saw that most of them wore their weapons all the time and carried backpacks anywhere they went, ready for anything that could happen.

Clarke showed him where to put his bag of apples, thanked him for his help and told him to go get some food. He was looking forward to filling his stomach again, he hadn't been fed like this in years and he was going to enjoy it for however long it lasted.

Looking around he saw that Clarke had joined a few others at a smaller table and there was room for him to join them. He dug up some courage, about to go and ask if he could join her but was stopped before he even managed a step. He turned his head, about to question why he was so rudely grabbed when Addy interrupted him. "Warren wants to talk to all of us, she's waiting for everyone in our room." With a sigh, he followed, but not before casting one last lingering look over his shoulder at the food he was not sitting down to eat.

10k walked in and stood next to Doc, smiling at him when he said hello. He didn't have to wonder long why they needed to get together, because almost as soon as everyone got close enough, Warren hushed them and began speaking in her "don't mess with me" voice, as 10k called it.

"Alright listen up. We need to find out who was bitten. Does anyone have ideas on who it could be?"

While he had his gut feeling and was almost one hundred percent positive, he wasn't going to offer her up like that. This wasn't his mission, he was just along for the ride and had made no promises to anyone.

No one had any ideas and so Warren did what she did best, issued orders for everyone.

"Addy, you see if you can get into their computers and find something out. Mac, help keep an eye out for her. Garnett and I will watch and listen. And Doc, you and 10k are down near the clinic, I want you guys to keep an ear out."

Just as 10k was about to question her, Doc surprised him. "Hey, that Citizen Z guy said the person wasn't going to leave with us. Why are we trying to figure it out?"

Warren scoffed at him. "Just because that guy said that doesn't mean a god damn thing. If this person was bitten, they have a duty to help find a cure. They have to come with us." She lowered her voice, making it sound softer, "Not to mention the fact that Murphy is getting worse. What if he can't make it all the way to California?"

The others nodded their heads at her logic, while 10k and Doc exchanged weary looks. Neither seemed very comfortable with this plan. 10K was so uncomfortable with it that he knew he had to say something, this went against his morals. Morals that he had already been bending since the world ended, and if he went against them completely, what did he have left of who he was and where he came from? He was sure his Ma was already looking down on him and shaking her head at some of the things he had to do, he didn't want to ignore the lesson on manners she had taught him.

"I won't spy on them."

They all spun their heads around, staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. _Gosh, they act like I never speak! _"They let us come here for Murphy's sake and not only are they sharing their supplies with us, they also promised us a vehicle and supplies for the road. If they are willing to help us out that much, why would we do something against Citizen Z's orders? Not to mention that if they wanted to come with us, they would have said so already. They obviously know about the mission." This wasn't a group of people that had attacked them first or something like that, these were good people that opened their home up to help them out, and he just could not, would not, agree with doing anything to them.

There was no way he could have missed the flash of irritation on Warren's face. "Listen here kid, we picked you up and let you come with us. You owe us!"

Owe them? What on earth would he owe them for? They didn't provide anything for him other than a ride and a share of the supplies. Which he felt was very fair since when they were running low on food, he was the one that went out and caught rabbits and some game, sometimes even fish to feed everyone. No one else bothered at all. If anything, they owed him. They would be much hungrier without him around.

Anger was starting to flow through him, hot, fast and almost out of control. He wasn't usually this quick to upset, this just struck a deep nerve. "I don't owe you anything. I was doing just fine by myself before I _choose _to go with you guys. I have traveled with you this far but this is not my mission."

Warren glared at him, "Where's your loyalty?"

If 10k was angry before, he was floored now. Loyalty? Most of them didn't know the meaning of the word. They wanted to have his when he didn't have theirs? That's not how it worked.

"There is only one of you that I have any feelings of loyalty towards. And it was him that I came along for when he asked if I needed a ride." He had to stop himself, he was starting to say things he wouldn't ever speak out loud if his emotions weren't running all over the place. Doc pulled him into a one arm hug, smiling at him like he had just given him the largest steak left in the world, "Aw hell kid!"

Cassandra then spoke up, saying something she had been saying over and over, so often that it was starting to become her end of the world motto. "You don't get a choice in who you survive with. You're with us."

"Who says I don't? The Z's may have taken everything else away from me but I still have power over my own actions. I still have free will."

Garnett stopped Warren from whatever she was about to spit out. "Alright calm down, this is getting out of hand. Why don't we go eat and then head to bed? We could all use some sleep. We'll talk about this some more tomorrow after we have had some time to think about things."

10k was angry, hurt and mostly just confused. He had no idea what would happen when they talked next, the only thing he knew was that even though they had just met Clarke and her group today, he knew, he just knew, that if he was forced to pick, he would stay here. And it wasn't even because he found Clarke pretty and amazing. It was even more than the fact that they had a safe place here, with food, water and just about every other comfort one would want. No, it was because this is what felt right to him.

It was the end of the world. Did he really want to spend it making his way across the US with people that said he owed them when he didn't? He didn't want to owe anyone anything.

Did he go to spend his last moments helping someone like Murphy? With a group of people, he (mostly) didn't even like most of the time?

No. No, he didn't.

* * *

When Clarke woke the next morning, she was pleased to see that it was earlier than she expected. She thought with how tired she had been the night before, that she would have slept in until breakfast. Grateful for the extra free time, she got dressed quickly, deciding to go to the spot she had found that was great for relaxing and drawing.

Mount Weather was a huge place, both above ground and below ground. Citizen Z told them they had over 400 acres above ground, and that below ground was over a half a million square feet. True, much of it that was shut off for now, as it still needed a walkthrough to make sure there was no dead walking about, but there was still plenty of room for so few of them. Yet, it was so hard to find a spot and time to be completely alone. Therefore, Clarke guarded her secret spot and made sure no one else ever followed her there. She wasn't the only one, she knew a few of the others did the same and made sure to respect their privacy like they did for her.

The only exception to this was the spot Jasper and Monty had claimed. Everyone knew where their spot was because the guys had gotten them all together once and let everyone know what their plans were. She had no idea how they even got the stuff to plant, she asked once and they both gave her identical smirks that had her not even wanting to know anymore. They went from growing and selling herbs up on the Ark to setting up their own mini marijuana garden down here. It was funny how when some things changed so drastically, some things still stayed the same.

So since, as far as she knew, no one knew about her spot, she was baffled to find someone there when she walked in.

* * *

10k woke up with his knife in his hand, shaking and sweating, unsure of where he for a few heartbeats until his mind fully woke up, he was safe at Mount Weather. He had been dreaming of his Pa's death again, a memory that he desperately wished was something that just haunted his dreams.

He grabbed some of the new, clean, clothes from the rather large amount he had been given, along with the small basket of showering supplies, planning on showering since there was no way he would be going back to sleep now.

Being able to take a hot shower (or cold if he felt like it) was going to take some time to get used to. He couldn't remember the last time he had a shower. Or even when he last properly washed his face. Not to mention toilet paper and an actual running toilet. As he closed the bathroom door behind him and went about his morning business, he silently thanked Murphy in his head for being sick enough that they were able to come here for this.

After getting fully dressed and strapping on half of his weapons, many in hidden or out of the way places, he grabbed the fresh pack of smokes he was given the day before and left to go find a place where he could smoke in peace. He had noticed that despite being underground, there were a few places that opened up into the side of the mountain. There was a small garden, full of green plants that he didn't recognize, and an area with large solar panels. Either of those might have been good enough for what he wanted, but he went to neither. Instead, he went down the hall from the clinic to a door he noticed Clarke go into. There was no sign on the door, in fact, he wouldn't have even known it was there if he didn't see her enter it. That part of the hallway was darker and it was hard to see the door. 10k figured it would at least be quiet enough for him to have a smoke, or two, in peace before he either had to deal with another talk with Warren or he went back to the farm to help finish the trading, whichever came first.

As he opened the door, he paused for a brief moment to admire the silence and the beauty of this little place. The rest of the world was dead or dying but walking into this place made it all fade into the background. There was a wooden bench running along the wall that went almost fully around the whole room, with padded seats that looked wide enough to lay down and still be comfy, and art supplies scattered all around on the floor, bench and on a few of the tables.

It was quiet and empty which is what he was looking for, as he put his bag down and light up a cigarette he forgot briefly that this was someone else's spot. In no time at all he found himself completely relaxed, his guard was down and his mind was blank, he could almost literally feel the stress of the last few years leaving his body. A half hour later he lit up another up and walked around, looking at the walls. He thought the most amazing part of the room was the drawings pinned up on the walls. There were dozens of them, of the people here, of the outside world, a few of some Z's, some of space, but the most impressive ones were the two portraits in the middle of one of the walls. He walked closer to look at the better, in awe of how real they looked.

He was so lost in his relaxation and staring at the unknown man and woman from the drawings that his reaction time was embarrassingly slow, he didn't hear the door open, didn't even know someone else was in the room with him until they spoke. He pushed down the flicker of fear that rose at being caught unaware of his surroundings and opened his eyes, happy it was her.

"You know, we've been here for months now and until now, no one has ever been in my spot before."

He was teasing her back before he even realized what he was doing. "I didn't know it was yours, I don't see your name anywhere." Where did that even come from? His mind wanted to shut down, he felt like his almost had no control over the words that were coming out of his mouth.

Her eyes widened as if she didn't expect him to be playful. Something he agreed with, man she really had him all twisted up inside, doing and saying things out of the ordinary. One moment she had him tongue-tied, the next he was blurting out things he would never normally say. It was confusing. Maybe he would talk with Doc later about it. Maybe.

"Does it count if my stuff is all over the place?"

* * *

Clarke wasn't sure what she was feeling about having him in her place. She was itching to grab a pencil and draw him, he was attractive before but now, all showered and clean? He oozed innocent sex appeal and silent predator. It drew her to him, more than she was already feeling. Hearing the news that he didn't have a girlfriend pleased her more than it should have. Clarke knew that she shouldn't be having thoughts like that when there was so much else going on, but she couldn't help it. It felt like her world just seemed brighter, easier and her burdens less and lighter around him. He was intoxicating and he didn't even know it.

"All of this is yours? Then did you draw all of these?"

Clarke could hear the almost disbelief in his voice, and couldn't blame him. The two he couldn't take his eyes off of were her best work and even she thought they looked very life like.

"Yes, all of them. Those are my parents."

At her words he turned to look at her, what he was looking for, she had no idea. She hoped he didn't ask about them. Moments passed but he granted her unspoken wish and didn't ask anything. Just instead went to sit down and finish smoking.

"Do you mind if I smoke in here? I am sorry I didn't ask."

It amused her that he asked even as he leaned back, stretching his long legs out in front of him and continued to smoke. "No, it's fine. Just bring in something for the ashes and butts please." Walking to the other side of the room to where she last left her art pad, she was fully aware of what she had hinted at to him. She didn't mind him coming into her space, not even when she was drawing.

* * *

10k was insanely happy with her offer to come back, he knew he would be a frequent visitor. When he was done smoking he closed his eyes, letting his head rest against the wall and just relaxed even further, letting the sounds of her pencil and paper flipping lull him into an almost sleepy state. He knew he needed to figure out what he was feeling around her, but he did know one thing for sure. He felt whole around her, at peace and like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. If nothing else, he would enjoy being around her for that.

An hour later he heard her getting up and figured it was about time to leave and get the day started. Maybe the group ready to go to the farm was ready and he could prolong the talk Warren no doubt wanted to have.

Clarke finished up as well, and they both left the room together, walking in silence to breakfast.

Breakfast had already drawn a crowd, and after smelling the delicious aroma in the air, it was easy to see why. Doc met him in the middle of the room, grinning at him. "Morning kid, smell that? Apple pancakes for breakfast! Hot, fresh, homemade apple pancakes, can you believe it?!"

Doc was right, there were plates piled high with fresh, piping hot pancakes along with bowls of the fresh apples, dried fruit, oatmeal, honey and hot coffee. It looked like a feast to 10k, still not used to seeing so much food. They wasted no time in getting in line with the others for some food but didn't get a chance to sit and enjoy it for as long as they wanted because Warren came in the room and quickly made her way to them, a grimace on her face.

10k knew she was about to call together another one of her meetings but luck was on his side as Miller was closer and made it to 10k first. "Hey man, did you still want to come with us? We're leaving right after we eat if you do."

10k nodded, thankful for the excuse to get out of a talk with Warren, even knowing that it would just prolong it.

"Awesome, thanks, man. See you in 10 at the main doors."

Warren was next to them by then and scowled when she head Miller, but didn't try and stop him from going, instead, she gave him a stern look and said they would talk when he returned.

Murphy and the rest came and sat with them as 10k hurried to finish, not wanting to spend time with them as he was still upset about their talk last night. Rest and his relaxing time with Clarke didn't do much to lessen is anger, he just knew that when they finished their discussion, someone was going to be very pissed. And it wasn't going to be him, he was going to be heard and decide his own fate.


End file.
